Dr. Craig is a liar.

[Huggy Bear]

The Placebo Effect is what happens when a person thinks they're getting medicine, but in reality nothing is happening.

However, due to their brain's reaction to the "good news" of the cure they're getting, they produce fewer stress hormones and their immune system's reaction improves. They are thus "cured" (or improved) by absolutely nothing other than their own natural processes.

Nice explanation attempt but as the article I posted states "Scientists recognize that there are placebo effects but have trouble accounting for them.". would you mind posting your source that contradicts that statement?

Saying that faith-curing is the Placebo Effect is exactly what we've been claiming all along. However, in the prayer tests on cardiac patients, it turned out that in the double-blind tests, no difference was noted between those who were being prayed for and those who weren't... and when the subjects knew they were being prayed for, they actually fared slightly worse, as if they gave up on their own healing process in order to rely on a supernatural process that simply doesn't exist.

Again, what were talking about is faith (aka belief) being able to heal, not prayer... hence "the prayer of FAITH shall save the sick". A prayer without faith ain't doing jack, neither is a placebo without faith.