My doctor asked me to pray.

[pocaracas]

Doctors work on stats.... stats say that most people are religious... praying helps with the psychological aspect of getting better, so... it makes sense to prescribe such a placebo.
Research indicates that, even knowing it's a placebo, you can feel the results. So, again, it makes sense to prescribe such a placebo, even to one who knows it's a placebo.

And I think it was Voltaire who said "The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease." well, while the antibiotics cure the disease