The trend in alternative medicine

Hi,

Did you know someone's doing a double-blind, statistically-significant experiment into the effects of prayer?

I tend to be skeptical about supernatural events that are based on "belief" rather than science, so I'm interested in the results of this experiment.

A less-rigorous and earlier experiment seemed to document some beneficial results from prayer. One finding seemed to show beneficial results in a person who didn't know he was being prayed for; the person who was doing the praying didn't believe prayer worked; nonetheless, beneficial results occurred.

I look forward greatly to hearing about the results of the double-blind prayer experiment, though I suspect they will be similar to the results of the scientific tests of ancient religious artifacts.

Best,

-Boyd

Hi Boyd,

That sounds like interesting research.... I've heard of past research which (like you mentioned) showed that prayer helped, though I guess I always assumed it was about praying for *yourself*.... (In that case, it could be explained as psychological....)

I guess as is clear to most, I'm generally a spiritual person, so I use prayer myself a lot.... If it is shown to help, all the better.... :) It's not generally the main purpose of prayer, but if it is shown to help with illness, then it's a nice extra benefit.... :)

- Dien