Prayer and Medical Science: A Commentary on the Prayer Study by Harris et al and a Response to Critics

doi:10.1001/archinte.160.12.1735

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Vol. 160 No. 12, June 26, 2000

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Prayer and Medical Science

A Commentary on the Prayer Study by Harris et al and a Response to Critics

Arch Intern Med. 2000;160:1735-1738.

Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

It is fatal to dismiss antagonistic doctrines, supported byany body of evidence, as simply wrong. Alfred North Whitehead,1948¹

THE RANDOMIZED, controlled trial by Harris et al² on the effectsof remote intercessory prayer on outcomes of patients admittedto a coronary care unit evoked several comments from physicians.

Several respondents implied that the attempt to study the remoteeffects of prayer is wrong in principle. This is because, accordingto Dr Sandweiss,³ science deals with facts, not "miracles."Yet, if events occur in controlled laboratory studies, as suggestedby evidence cited below, these happenings presumably follownatural law and are not considered miraculous.

We should be cautious in calling events miraculous or mystical,because the subsequent course of history may reveal that theseterms reflect little more than our own ignorance. For example,when Newton invoked the notion of universal gravity in the 17thcentury to . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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