Looks like it’s time to call off the prayer groups.
In the largest scientific test of its kind, heart surgery patients showed no benefit when strangers prayed for their recovery.
And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications.
I’ll say one thing for this study – it encourages mental gymnastics. Listen to Harold Koenig, from the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke.
Although double-blinded studies of intercessory prayer pique our interest because they might demonstrate the power of faith, they are misdirected on both scientific and Christian understandings of God. If these studies showed something, then God would be part of the mechanical universe and His actions could be predicted. I absolutely believe that intercessory prayer can influence medical outcomes, but I don’t believe that the natural methods of science can prove this.
So people like this believe that this intercessory prayer (praying for other people, as in church prayer lists, etc.) can influence medical outcomes, which are decidedly in the realm of the natural world. However, they do not believe that you can use natural means (i.e. science) to demonstrate this effect of intercessory prayer on the natural world.
Someone please explain the logic here.