I'm willing to bet that if the study had not resulted in negative reults that pro-prayer groups would have been all over it and the study would not have been deemed "...a colossal waste of time and money."

To have faith like a mustard seed, that can move mountains, you need to pray AND FAST. GOD works in mysterious ways, but you have to walk in HIS way, be baptised as an adult, and so on before you can start recieving HIS gifts. 'Submarine' christians give the faith a bad name, as they only surface on Sundays in church, and on Monday they are gone again. GOD does not have to prove anything to science, HE created science. To arrange a test with 600 true christians would be quite a feat, and would be quite a sight. How many of the people that were used know how to pray in tongues, or what fasting really is, or know how to give their tenth?

Are ALL the researchers BLIND or just un read...

Prayer does NOT heal and it never will

GOD HEALS.....

And ALL those who are HIS, HE heals perfectly either here on earth or when He takes them home!!!

How can scientific research on a topic that is beyond their scope

Lou

To the Editor:

As I’ve had explored intensively and extensively in my book “Gods, Genes, Conscience” (iUniverse, January 2006), all the disciplined psychodynamics of prayers, meditations, or self-introspections, are conducive to a practitioner’s personal well being, body and mind, spiritual and intellectual health and growth. Whereas the beneficiary claims of intercessory prayers--no matter how religiously devout that they are; and as the results of the study above clearly show--are bogus; and in the practice of human medicine, they are definitely immoral and unethical!

Sincerely, Mong H Tan, PhD; Author “Gods, Genes, Conscience” (iUniverse, January 2006)

I think if the correct language form was to be used , ie "intercessionary prayer" ( such as the ejaculatory prayer " pray for us " in the litanical prayers such as in the christian churches THEN,the non spiritual measure of prayer might be assessed. How ever it is teh spiritual effect of prayer which is the reason that it is performed. On ebuys paint because of its colour; not its ingredients.

The study was a good first step in the understanding of a possible link between prayer and an enhancement of rehabilitation.
It makes sense to study the farthest possible link between prayer and healing and then to work towards a more focused approach.
I wish the investigators good luck on their continued pursuit of prayer and a possible link to healing.

The study was a good first step in the understanding of a possible link between prayer and an enhancement of rehabilitation.
It makes sense to study the farthest possible link between prayer and healing and then to work towards a more focused approach, such as smaller groups which are closer in relation.
I wish the investigators good luck on their continued pursuit of prayer and a possible link to healing so that one day we may have a better understanding, if such a link does exist.

It's very, very unfortunate that prayer is emphasized, because it leads many to believe that this study is about supernatural phenomenon. It's not. Even the Nature report is biased in this way. Explicitly, in the first sentence: "Distant prayers do not help...", when in fact what the researchers actually did was try and determine the effect on health of patients by changing their knowledge of the world in relation to them.

Remember, this is about psychology: the article should read (perhaps in more literary terms) "if one believes that he/she is receiving intercession in the form of prayer then this will not promote his/her health"! If one wanted to study prayer itself then perhaps the double-blind technique would be more appropriate - a study which I'm sure would be even more ridiculed than this one.

This study seems to be fairly unremarkable in itself because positive thought leading to a better immune system and health status, and as well stress leading to poorer health is already fairly well documented, and really, spending 2.4 million dollars on finding just one more factor for either better or worse health seems like a serious waste of money.

And why was there no group which was told that they would not be prayed for? It's unfortunate that a second set of three groups could not be told the same thing, except that no prayer would be conducted, although there are definitely ethical problems with that, but this would emphasize that the actual prayer is not what is being considered.

Prayer is something personal. If I am a patient and I believe in spirituality, I will willingly ask for prayer for healing and for reconciliation with the highest spiritual being. Then, I shall be at ease when I enter the operation theatre and when I come out from it. Prayer is subjective. You can quantify the time spent on prayer. But can you quantify the contents, the emotions and the unseen force that comes with prayer ? You mention about abnormal heart rhythms. That can be detected through ECG. Meaning you can have the patients fixed to a continuous ECG monitoring machine before, during and after prayers. Next question, is prayer such a big causative factor to cases of heart surgeries' complications that you need to solve it ? Because a real research or study means that there is a real major problem or a major condition that has to be solved. Why can't the research problem be certain cardiac surgical procedure brings more post operative complications ? Or may be you want to mention exactly which procedure and that you strongly want to do away with this particular cardiac procedure.

Is this article an April Fool's hoax?

Prayers do help ... It doesnt matter, whom it comes from

Instead of studying prayer why not study the ones that are "sick" maybe they like the attention of being "sick". You must study the whole picture not just one piece.

The study is redundant, and prayer does work. If prayer for good health did not then how could a person blame pray for making things worse. I am sorry that makes no sense. If it can do evil, then it can do good also.

As a Natural Scientist, I have seen the healing power of prayer on numerous occations. A 7 year old boy was hit by a truck which threw him into the safety barrier head first, His brains were coming out of the back of his head, his neck was broken and he had a very badly broken leg. He was airlifted to hospital, where the prognosis was, "a cabbage and if he recovered he would be crippled" We prayed for him that afternoon and evening even though we did not know where he was (70 Km away). The next day we found where he had been taken to and went to pray for him. He was in a deep coma with no responses. We also prayed the following day when we took his mother to sign for the operation to repair the neck bones. That operation did not take place, as the neck healed and 10 day later he woke up with no mental problem and could remember everything that had happened. The "PhD" doctors could not believe it.He came home 6 weeks later and could walk normally after the leg caste was removed. That was 7 years ago, and he is a normal teenager doing well at school academically and on the sport field.
GOD DOES HEAL and it does not cost millions of dollars to prove it.
Posted by Allan Hall MSc

Psychological experiments ususally need to hide the purpose of the experiment from the subject. How do you prevent God from knowing that the experiment is taking place and modifying His answers to prayer accordingly?

The problem with Mr Hall's observation is what has been called ""the invisibility of drowned believers". There are many similar cases where the injured person didn't survive, but those are never mentioned.
It would nevertheless be interesting to see if prayer by people close to the patients has any effect.

Given the vastness of Universe, science cannot even explore and explain the world of three dimensional space and time to the extent scientist would like to. And if we try to understand the supernatural or the world of other dimensions using rational approach, we will only get frustration at hand. Definitely we can "feel" certain supernatural phenomena but we cannot rationalize because of the inability of our mind to comprehend beyond three dimensional space and time. Because it is so difficult to define "right way to pray", the outcomes of the research will always be questioned. This does not mean that we should not try to explore the supernatual world. We should try to find out the way to pray in a right way which will lead us to correct conclusions which is easier said than done. Anyways, it's a brave effort.

It will never cease to amaze me that the calendar says "2006", but science is still subordinate to religion for most Americans. Actually, I'm lying. There's nothing magical about the new millennium. There's no reason why the world would suddenly embrace logic and rational thinking. I'm just sad that I will not live to see such a time, and that it might never happen at all.

If the preceding paragraph made no sense, I'll just spell it out:

There is no god. Period.

I don't mean to be crass, but I think I should be allowed a blunt statement to counter the likes of "GOD DOES HEAL". I didn't even use all caps.

I am sorry there are so few responses from sensible rational people who do not see the existance of a god as either likely or nesessary.
I guess those who are blindly religious would sugest that god in his mercy and goodness on 9/11 gave the poor people trapped in the upper parts of the buildings the option of jumping out of the windows if they didnt want to burn to death. The trouble with the blindly religious is no sense of irony!!!!!!!!
Adrian Turner

This is the least surprising scientific result in recent memory. Thank goodness - what if it had showed that prayer actually worked? That would be tough to explain - probably some would claim that there is this big guy who listens to prayers and does something about them. But no, he continues to hide out in his inscrutable way. What a sneak he is.

The fact that only those who knew they were being prayed for showed any effect at all is telling.
Your mind has the ability to promote the healing of your body. If we believe in the healing power of prayer or the healing power of meditation or whatever belief allows us to tap into this healing power of our own minds...It makes no difference how this is done as long as we find a way to focus this ability that we all have but seldom use.

I believe this study was not properly designed because they did not take attention to the following truth about prayer:(1) its the prayer of the righteous that heals not any other prayer. It therefore means that assuming everybody's prayer could heal and that their collective effort would produce results is a bit overstretching things (2) AT the end of it God has the final say not man. Put differently prayer is powerful but it has to be in accordance with God's will which no man can fathom. (3) As to the measurements, the study does not take into consideration that the how quick somebody heals is a function of not only the spiritual aspect but other complex parameters and nobody knows how quick is quick because in religion the wisdom of man is foolishness to God. Clearly this is what has been shown in the study

I am thinking to myself; why on earth spend all this money researching the likely hood of a phenomena (super- or otherwise) where 'mechanism-of-action' cannot be meaningfully discussed (other than 'God did it, init!').

I am amazed people will waste money on clinical studies where the proposed mode of action is supernatural, therefore having no further medical criterion (either via device or pharmaceutical) for helping more people.

Maybe someone just wanted to be able to say 'Hah, told you so!'.

Amazing!

Malcolm McLean and Ereck Chakauya probably are in agreement with this simple question on the study's methods: How can prayers offered for the sake of an experiment, not for the sake of the patient(s), be expected to represent the real thing? If they were Christian prayers, they were certainly out of line with such scriptures as "..the effectual, fervent prayers..." and "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!" A study like this, then, must keep not only God in the dark, as Mr. McLean noted, but also must keep the "intercessors" ignorant. Both the experiment and the prayers are in question if the persons praying even KNOW that they are part of a "study". ALL validity is lost when the intercessors are praying chiefly BECAUSE they are part of a study!

I for one, am pretty glad they did this study. Without it, and this article, I wouldn't have been able to read so many comments!

It brings to light a very important fact of life here in the USA: the vast majority of those of you that participated in the study, and commented on this article seem to be either devout Christians, or ingrained atheists.

Where are the Hindus, the Muslims, the Buddhists? Content with our own religious beliefs, we understand that an experiment such as this is irrelevant and is meant only as a way of increasing media exposure of Christianity without actually 'promoting' the religion.

I'm glad there's somebody out there willing to do 'studies' like these, to keep you people occupied with yourselves.

Keep up the good work 'fighting the good fight' and 'defending the faith'!

"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men."
1 Timothy 2:1

"I tell you the truth, if you have faith like a mustard seed, you can move mountains."
Matthew 17:20

So, based on these two passages of scripture it seems to me that, contrary to what some christians have posted here, the bible does indeed endorse intercessory prayer. It also seems clear that the prerequisite for proper intercessory prayer would be less than or equal to the prerequisite for the relocation of a mountain, which is merely the faith of a mustard seed. Therefore, it seems that this study indicates that the bible's claim: that intercessory prayer is an effective means of spiritual intervention, is demonstrably false.

Science: 1
Myth: 0

This study demonstrates the uselessness of the knee-jerk expression, "I'll pray for (you, him, her, them)," which is so often uttered in mindless response to bad news. Suggested replacements: "I'll send them a card to cheer them up." Or, "I'll make some cookies for him." Or, "I'll give her a phone call to cheer her up." But "I'll pray for her" is like George Costanza's phony donations "in your name" to the imaginary "Human Fund" that he informed his co-workers would be their Christmas gifts from him.

Of course, the results of this experiment could have been anticipated by recalling that 6 million Jews were murdered in Nazi concentration camps. You know that virtually every one of them must have prayed for rescue, yet none of them were. And to "Stephan," who posted on March 31: You can bet that there was a good deal of fasting going on there, to no good effect.

This is a colossal waste of time and money. I encourage the writers to focus issues that confer the greatest benefit on mankind.

Cynics do not advance science or make progress since they never try anything. And they never support anything, unless it has been proven to work. It is also not THEIR money, so what do they care? I admire anyone who attempts the unusual in the search for knowledge. I have no admiration for know-it-all cynics.