Al Mohler has a few brief comments on a recent study (Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer):
First, I do not believe that Christians should look for any validation of prayer (or any other Christian doctrine or discipline, for that matter) from the world of science or empirical research. Second, I do not believe that Christians should accept a generic definition or conception of prayer in the first place. Those earlier studies made reference to prayer without stipulating to whom the prayer is addressed. Third, Christians do not believe that prayer heals, but that God heals.
One of the keys that impacts the effectiveness of social science research is the operational definition of the variables being measured.
It’s tough enough to get a group of ministers to agree on an operational definition for the “effective prayer of a righteous man”, much less a group of secular researchers.
According to the NY Times article:
The patients were broken into three groups. Two were prayed for; the third was not. Half the patients who received the prayers were told that they were being prayed for; half were told that they might or might not receive prayers.
The researchers asked the members of three congregations — St. Paul’s Monastery in St. Paul; the Community of Teresian Carmelites in Worcester, Mass.; and Silent Unity, a Missouri prayer ministry near Kansas City — to deliver the prayers, using the patients’ first names and the first initials of their last names.
The congregations were told that they could pray in their own ways, but they were instructed to include the phrase, “for a successful surgery with a quick, healthy recovery and no complications.”
What does it mean? Probably nothing. Except that “the researchers will be done” isn’t an effective prayer.
There has been ample evidence over the last 20 years or so to demonstrate that people who regularly engage in religious activities tend to be happier, healthier, and better adjusted to life.
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