This thread was proposed by another member.

The question is:
Do you believe in the power of prayer? Discuss.

Prayer helps people become optimistic. Optimism is a good thing. Optimistic people are happier and more successful. Thus, prayer works. Yay.

No. When I have a problem I try to do something useful. Asking things that don't exist to fix problems that do is not useful.

yay... a wish list for jesus claus.
instead of praying, get off your ass and make something happen.

prayer ranks up there with the nutbags that claim to believe in angels.
your god doesn't make shit happen. you do.

prayer works like the placebo effect. In that since it does do something, but so does making a bunch of paper cranes and wishing for something.

It also depends on the type of prayer. Some types of prayer are actually rooted in altered states of consciousness (sensory deprivation, sensory overload, drug use, etc.)

My girlfriend was raised catholic. She spent a lot of time in prayer. She likens it to meditation. From all her years of prayer, she has picked up a powerful intuition. She prayed to Mary, and after a while "Mary" spoke back. The reality is that she tapped into her higher self. There are things that work, but the reasoning behind them tend to be wrong. You don't pray to get something, you pray to realign yourself with your life path.

Yes.

Posted by Oryx Prayer helps people become optimistic. Optimism is a good thing. Optimistic people are happier and more successful. Thus, prayer works. Yay.

QFT. There was a study a few years ago that tested the power of prayer. It found that people who knew they were being prayed for got better sooner. It also found that people who thought they were being prayed for, but actually weren't, got better sooner. People who were prayed for, but were not aware of it, showed no difference from the control group. I.e., placebo effect.

I keep praying to God to cure my underbite, and I promise that I will believe in him if he does, but so far nothing.

www.whydoesgodhateamputees.com

I'd suggest that christian science lacks some of the principles of the scientific method. Check out the New York Times (usually credible source):

http://www.nytimes...health/31pray.html

"Prayers offered by strangers had no effect on the recovery of people who were undergoing heart surgery, a large and long-awaited study has found.

And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of post-operative complications like abnormal heart rhythms..."


"The new study was intended to overcome flaws in the earlier investigations"