STUDY FINDS PRAYER DOESN'T WORK - AT LEAST IN HEART BYPASS SURGERY

MSNBC - In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that having
people pray for heart bypass surgery patients had no effect on their
recovery. In fact, patients who knew they were being prayed for had a
slightly higher rate of complications. . . Critics said the question of
God's reaction to prayers simply can't be explored by scientific study.

The work, which followed about 1,800 patients at six medical centers,
was financed by the Templeton Foundation, which supports research into
science and religion. It will appear in the American Heart Journal.

Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School and other scientists tested
the effect of having three Christian groups pray for particular
patients, starting the night before surgery and continuing for two
weeks. The volunteers prayed for "a successful surgery with a quick,
healthy recovery and no complications" for specific patients, for whom
they were given the first name and first initial of the last name.

The patients, meanwhile, were split into three groups of about 600
apiece: those who knew they were being prayed for, those who were prayed
for but only knew it was a possibility, and those who weren't prayed for
but were told it was a possibility. . .

59 percent of the patients who knew they were being prayed for developed
a complication, versus 52 percent of those who were told it was just a
possibility.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12082681/

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