Prayer studies (again!)
Dene Bebbington
Tim Stevens <timothy...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>Hi Dene,
>
>Dene Bebbington wrote:
>
>> There was a programme on TV last night discussing studies into the
>> effects of prayer. One of the people in the discussion mentioned a new
>> study which is underway that won't be finished until 2002. Does anyone
>> out there know who is financing it?
>
>What program was this on? Was it a BBC or Channel 4 program, or was it
one
>that would also be available stateside?
It was "Heart of the Matter" on the BBC, but I don't know if you can get
that in the US.
> Sometimes, *who* is producing it
>will give some clues as to who is financing it.
>
>> I still find it hard to believe that scientists are still engaging in
>> this kind of muddle headed nonsense.
>
>People who *call* themselves 'scientists' are still engaging in such
>nonsense, just as TM 'scientists' at their university in Iowa produced
>'evidence' that TM 'cures' everything from painful toe warts to the black
>plague.
Ah yes, the TM movement that promises "Heaven on Earth", what a bunch of
jokers they are!
>Real scientists, however, stay way from such things that cannot be
>operationally defined and the 'effects' of which (if any) cannot be
>explained short of invoking the deux et machina that you just know they
>have been dying to invoke from the beginning of the study.
The person on the TV programme who mentioned the latest prayer study
used the phrase "for whatever reason" when talking about why a positive
results of the study might occur. It seems to me that there are
scientists who are invoking God but just don't want to admit, Behe is
another one who comes to mind.
--
Dene
Rob Hardy
"Ross La Haye" <ro...@netnet.net> mentions:
> I had thought also that a statistician whose name escapes had found
negative
> results on a prayer study as far back as 100 years ago.
That was Francis Galton (1822-1911), a brilliant man whose association
with
eugenics tarnishes his legacy. Some of his writing on the subject may be
found at http://www.cimm.jcu.edu.au/hist/stats/galton/pray/prayfav.htm.
One of his studies looked at the longevity of royalty, who have countless
prayers said on their behalf to preserve and extend their lives. Galton
found that there was no such extension.
---Rob
Dene Bebbington
Wayne Spencer <w.sp...@dial.pipex.com> wrote:
>Dene Bebbington wrote:
>
>
>>There was a programme on TV last night discussing studies into the
>>effects of prayer. One of the people in the discussion mentioned a
>> new study which is underway that won't be finished until 2002. Does
>> anyone out there know who is financing it?
>
>Stannard is connected.
Could well be, the person on the programme who mentioned it was a
Physicist and is one of the trustees of the organisation financing it.
> Although the experiment has not yet been
>completed, he has already published a book on it: 'The God Experiment'
>(Faber and Faber; 1999).
Is the study any different to Byrd's?
--
Dene