The Deity in the Data

[Stokes]

The Deity in the Data
What the latest prayer study tells us about God.
By William Saletan
Posted Thursday, April 6, 2006, at 2:37 AM ET

Brother, have you heard the bad news?

It was supposed to be good news, like the kind in the Bible. After three years, $2.4 million, and 1.7 million prayers, the biggest and best study ever was supposed to show that the prayers of faraway strangers help patients recover after heart surgery. But things didn't go as ordained. Patients who knowingly received prayers developed more post-surgery complications than did patients who unknowingly received prayers—and patients who were prayed for did no better than patients who weren't prayed for. In fact, patients who received prayers without their knowledge ended up with more major complications than did patients who received no prayers at all.

more ... http://www.slate.com/default.aspx?id=2139373&nav/tap1/
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Where love is, there God is also.

-Mahatma Gandhi