Well, here you go folks - you heard it here first. Prayer has zero effect on it's subject. I for one, am shocked and amazed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/14/AR2005071401695.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/14/AR2005071401695.html
Did we really need to spend the money to make this obvious? Apparantly so. What a ridiculous state of affairs in the year 2005.Prayer's Power to Heal Strangers Is Examined
Cardiac Patients in New Study Fared No Better With Spiritual Intercession
Praying for sick strangers does not improve their prospects of recovering, according to a large, carefully designed study that casts doubt on the widely held belief that being prayed for can help a person heal.
The study of more than 700 heart patients, one of the most ambitious attempts to test the medicinal power of prayer, showed that those who had people praying for them from a distance, and without their knowledge, were no less likely to suffer a major complication, end up back in the hospital or die.
While skeptics of prayer welcomed the results, other researchers questioned the findings, and proponents of prayer maintained that God's influence lies beyond the reach of scientific validation.