Testing the Efficacy of Prayer

[Zach]

A study was recently concluded which sought to determine the efficacy of prayer epidemiologically. The results were published in the British journal Lancet, here:

 

Krucoff MW, Crater SW, Gallup D, Blankenship JC, Cuffe M, Guarneri M, Krieger RA, Kshettry VR, Morris K, Oz M, Pichard A, Sketch MH Jr, Koenig HG, Mark D, Lee KL. Music, imagery, touch, and prayer as adjuncts to interventional cardiac care: the Monitoring and Actualisation of Noetic Trainings (MANTRA) II randomised study. Lancet. 2005 Jul 16-22;366(9481):211-7.

 

The MANTRA study looked at patients undergoing PTCA (angioplasty) and divided them into groups which received MIT (music, imagery, and touch) therapy, IP (remote intercessory prayer) therapy, neither, or both. The composite endpoint measured combined mortality, readmission, and adverse cardiovascular events. The data from the study are show below.

 

 

The graph on the top indicates the outcome of patients receiving MIT (music, imagery, and touch) therapy after undergoing PTCA. As you can see, there was a slight benefit to those patients who recieved MIT compared to those who did not, although it was not statistically significant.

 

The graph on the bottom indicates the outcome of patients receiving remote intercessory prayer. As you can see, there was absolutely no difference between those patients who received prayer compared to those who did not.

 

The authors of the study mention that patients undergoing PTCA tend to have additional prayer directed toward them (89% indicated that this was so), and in addition, cardiac wards tend to have more prayer than other places. They suggest that this fact may have confounded the ability of remote intercessory prayer to have any detectable influence.

 

Although I consider this ad hoc reasoning at its worst, perhaps I can design an experiment in which the background prayer would not be an issue. I work in a molecular genetics laboratory, where E. coli bacteria are commonly used to propagate various DNA constructs. As is happens, I have a strain of bacteria which contains a DNA construct that includes a gene that allows for the bacteria to metabolize a certain chemical, resulting in a blue color. However, that gene has been mutated by one base, and is no longer functional. I can, using procedures common to molecular genetics, change the base pair back to its original identity and restore the ability of that bacteria to generate a blue color. However, assuming that the efforts of science pale in comparison to the power of the Christian God, I propose the following experiment:

 

I will divide a single aliquot of the bacteria mentioned above into three groups. The first group will undergo a molecular manipulation to restore the blue color gene, a procedure which has a success rate of about 80-85%, as a positive control. The second group will receive the mutated gene without any molecular manipulation, but instead will be prayed for by a Christian volunteer and any other associates he/she wishes to recruit, asking the Christian God to manifest his power by changing a single base in the gene. I will mark the container with the words, "Attention God," take a picture of it and email that promptly to the volunteer so that he/she may have a mental image of the specific group when he/she prays. The window of prayer will initially be 8 hours, although I will prolong the prayer period if no positive results are seen by the end of that period. The third group will receive neither molecular manipulation nor prayer, as a negative control. This group should produce no blue bacterial colonies.

 

If the second, prayed-for group (experimental group) should have a percentage of positively mutated (blue) colonies, then we will have a quantifiable measure of the power of prayer.

 

Pending positive results, this experiment will be repeated twice.

 

Is anyone interested?

[Dianka]

I'll do it, but I have to warn you, I have prayed for E. coli before.

 

Would that be considered a disqualifying factor?

 

[Zach]

Not at all- did it work before?

 

Are there any professing Christians who would be willing to participate as well?

[Reality Amplifier]

I'll do it.

[quicksand]

Sounds fun. I'll give a tentative thumbs up to participate. Also, Zach, if this works it might solve race relations once and finally in the U.S.

[laura]

Sounds fun. I'll give a tentative thumbs up to participate. Also, Zach, if this works it might solve race relations once and finally in the U.S.

 

If the experiment doesn't shows results not favoring prayer, Chrstians might say that their god did not repsond because we are not supposed to test him. They might also say he has nothing to prove-although he obviously does. Also, it would only make sense for people of faith to pray during the experiment so that Christians' could not say that the experiment didn't favor prayer because "faithless" people were praying for it.

 

On a side note, the fact that there are other people praying at the time of the experiment should not make the results void, but would logically turn them in favor of prayer. I'm not understand the Christians' "logic" here.