Robin Abrahams, our psychology editor observes:
Scientists have proved, beyond much doubt, that prayer is valuable. Yet another study has been done on the efficacy of prayer: this new one, with over 1,800 subjects, showing yet again that prayer has no direct effect on the health of the person prayed for. The New York Times reports (today, March 31, 2006) that:
The study cost $2.4 million, and most of the money came from the John Templeton Foundation, which supports research into spirituality. The government has spent more than $2.3 million on prayer research since 2000.
None of the studies thus far have indicated that prayer is efficacious in healing the sick. But the experiments show that prayer is good for generating grant money.