Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/health/31pray.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5094&en=7b5406becfadbd88&hp&ex=1143781200&partner=homepage


http://tinyurl.com/z433o

Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer


By BENEDICT CAREY
Published: March 31, 2006
Prayers offered by strangers had no effect on the recovery of people who
were undergoing heart surgery, a large and long-awaited study has found.

And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of
post-operative complications like abnormal heart rhythms, perhaps because of
the expectations the prayers created, the researchers suggested.

Because it is the most scientifically rigorous investigation of whether
prayer can heal illness, the study, begun almost a decade ago and involving
more than 1,800 patients, has for years been the subject of speculation.

[more at the link . . . ]




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--Rich

Recommended websites:

http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles
http://www.acahf.org.au
http://www.quackwatch.org/
http://www.skeptic.com/
http://www.csicop.org/





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