Comments on: God Answers Prayers

By: Jon Holato

Jon Holato — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 01:14:37 +0000

@ Tony - I agree with your point on prayer creating an increased expectancy to get better, and that can also explain the differences between the study I posted and the one you did. People with psychological health problems typically lack the ability to think rationally, so knowing people are praying for them wouldn’t create the expectancy to get well that your average heart transplant surgery goer would have knowing that people were praying for him/her.

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 21:32:26 +0000

@Jon - prayer could very well have a different effect depending on the condition. At least in part it’s in your own head, and psychological disfunction could shift that perception in either direction.

@Erika - Once again it might depend on the particular condition. Knowing that you are being prayed for is an increased expectancy to get better. If the said expectancy deviates from the normal course of action, the stress could result out of this difference.

I think that there were no significant differences between not being prayed for, and not knowing that prayer has happened.

By: Erika Strum

Erika Strum — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 20:54:30 +0000

Web MD’s point is interesting because I would think that knowing someone is praying for you would have a positive effect on your health, rather than causing you stress. Assuming that, I would quesiton whether it was the prayer in itself, or the knowledge that someone is praying which was having the impact. But if the knowledge of the prayer is isolated, that supports the notion that it’s actually the prayer. Hmm, a religious skeptic converted…

By: Jon Holato

Jon Holato — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 10:46:48 +0000

@ Mikey Boom - thanks brother

@ Tony - thanks for sharing your finding that is pretty remarkable, what’s interesting is that the study I mentioned above deals largely with psychological problems, whereas the study you posted from WebMD was about patients scheduled for heart bypass surgery, and they each came to different conclusions. I wonder if this is some strange anomaly or if the success or failure of prayer therapy is dependent upon what illness the patient has; would be interesting to see further studies.

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 07:10:12 +0000

Interesting finding, though I wouldn’t take it too seriously yet, mostly due to conflicting findings.

“Prayer had a neutral effect” on the patients’ overall outcomes, researcher Charles Bethea, MD, with the Oklahoma Heart Institute in Oklahoma City, said in a news conference.

However, knowing that someone would pray for you seemed to have a negative effect on complication rates. Patients that were certain that others would pray for them had a higher rate of complications than patients who were uncertain but did receive prayer.

The complications were theorized to be attributed to the extra stress.

By: Mikey Boom

Mikey Boom — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 05:24:37 +0000

Interesting, religion and science working together. Cool post.