RE: Prayer does not work
November 18, 2013 at 6:08 pm
(This post was last modified: November 18, 2013 at 6:09 pm by pineapplebunnybounce.)
(November 18, 2013 at 9:23 am)Zazzy Wrote: Whoever did this study should be whipped and mocked for the impossibility of the study design, anyway. There are too many uncontrolled variables. Did all the praying people pray in exactly the same way, for the same length of time, with the same passion and commitment? How could you ever know this? Did they make absolutely sure that nobody else was praying for any of these people?
It's a terribly flawed idea that you could study this adequately. The only useful part is the psych component. If I did an experiment with this many holes in its design, I would not have any newspapers talking about it. Worthless bunk.
EXACTLY, thank you.
That's what I always say about prayer studies. It's so embarrassing, it's like trying to be "scientific" about something that's based completely on belief but ending up doing something that relies completely on your belief that the people told to pray actually prayed for the right people. And did not sneak in a prayer or two for the ones they're not supposed to pray for. Or that they prayed at all and were not just in it for the money. And that the family members of those who were in control groups did not pray for their loved ones. Or someone was just making a blanket prayer for all those who're sick. I mean, come on.
But, that said, I read somewhere (or possibly heard from an unreliable source) that those who know they were being prayed for perform worse because they feel like they are letting people down if they do not recover. And the same phenomenon is observed in people undergoing chemo, they feel like they're letting their families down if they don't do better, so that puts a strain on their recovery. Of course would have to read the paper in detail to actually know if this effect is observed and a different and better study design is needed to properly study this effect.
