Bill M
2010-01-11 11:22:34 UTC
Prayers
Jesus says in many different places that he and God will answer your
prayers. And Christians believe Jesus -- according to this recent article,
"54% of American adults believe the Bible is literally true." In some areas
of the country the number goes as high as 75%. Yet the evidence is that the
Bibles are no more than an ancient collection of myths and fables.
There is NO EVIDENCE that any prayers are consistently answered.
The fact is, God never answers any prayers. The entire idea that "God
answers prayers" is an illusion created by human hopes and imagination.
How do we know that "answered prayers" are illusions? We simply perform
scientific experiments. We ask a group of believers to pray for something
and then we watch what happens. What we find, whenever we test the efficacy
of prayer scientifically, is that prayer has zero effect:
a.. It does not matter who prays.
b.. It does not matter if we pray to God, Allah, Vishnu, Zeus, Ra or any
other human god.
c.. It does not matter what we pray about.
If we perform scientific, double-blind tests on prayer, and if the prayers
involve something concrete and measurable (for example, healing people with
cancer), we know that there is zero effect from prayer. Every single
"answered prayer" is nothing more than a coincidence. Both scientific
experiments and your everyday observations of the world show this to be the
case every single time.
For example:
One of the most scientifically rigorous studies yet, published earlier this
month, found that the prayers of a distant congregation did not reduce the
major complications or death rate in patients hospitalized for heart
treatments.
And:
A review of 17 past studies of ''distant healing," published in 2003 by a
British researcher, found no significant effect for prayer or other
religious healing methods.
This article from March, 2006 discusses the fact that the same conclusion
was reached in another study:
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.
The objective verifiable evidence is that prayer only satisfies peoples
hopes and imaginations, not actual accomplishment.
Jesus says in many different places that he and God will answer your
prayers. And Christians believe Jesus -- according to this recent article,
"54% of American adults believe the Bible is literally true." In some areas
of the country the number goes as high as 75%. Yet the evidence is that the
Bibles are no more than an ancient collection of myths and fables.
There is NO EVIDENCE that any prayers are consistently answered.
The fact is, God never answers any prayers. The entire idea that "God
answers prayers" is an illusion created by human hopes and imagination.
How do we know that "answered prayers" are illusions? We simply perform
scientific experiments. We ask a group of believers to pray for something
and then we watch what happens. What we find, whenever we test the efficacy
of prayer scientifically, is that prayer has zero effect:
a.. It does not matter who prays.
b.. It does not matter if we pray to God, Allah, Vishnu, Zeus, Ra or any
other human god.
c.. It does not matter what we pray about.
If we perform scientific, double-blind tests on prayer, and if the prayers
involve something concrete and measurable (for example, healing people with
cancer), we know that there is zero effect from prayer. Every single
"answered prayer" is nothing more than a coincidence. Both scientific
experiments and your everyday observations of the world show this to be the
case every single time.
For example:
One of the most scientifically rigorous studies yet, published earlier this
month, found that the prayers of a distant congregation did not reduce the
major complications or death rate in patients hospitalized for heart
treatments.
And:
A review of 17 past studies of ''distant healing," published in 2003 by a
British researcher, found no significant effect for prayer or other
religious healing methods.
This article from March, 2006 discusses the fact that the same conclusion
was reached in another study:
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.
The objective verifiable evidence is that prayer only satisfies peoples
hopes and imaginations, not actual accomplishment.
--
Bill M
Bill M