To Understand the Mind & Body we need Sound Research
Monday July 25, 2005
As we learn more about the complex relationships among mind, body, and spirit it is important for researchers to take care. A recent study on intercessory prayer is a good example. It claimed women in a South Korean hospital who received in vitro fertilization were twice as likely to conceive if they were the recipients of prayers by Christians who were complete strangers and thousands of miles away. Some previous studies have found similar results, but this one had lots of critics because of the way it was conducted. At one point Columbia University and the Journal of Reproductive Medicine both removed the study from their websites, and Coumbia lead author Rogerio Lobo has removed his name from the study.
The person who actually set up the prayer groups, Dainel Wirth, "has no medical training, has a degree in parapsychology, has published other articles claiming miraculous, supernatural healing and has a 20-year record of fraud. He set up and managed the prayer groups in the disputed study. He has just been sentenced to five years in a Federal prison for financial skullduggery unrelated to the study." according to Leon Jardoff in Time Magazine.
The study is interesting, and a few other studies have found similar results. There are enough questions about this particular study that we really should be skeptical, though. Read more about the controversy here:
TIME - Leon Jaroff - : More Questions on Healing Prayer
Scroll halfway down to read the Jounal's response to unpublished letters critical of the study.
The person who actually set up the prayer groups, Dainel Wirth, "has no medical training, has a degree in parapsychology, has published other articles claiming miraculous, supernatural healing and has a 20-year record of fraud. He set up and managed the prayer groups in the disputed study. He has just been sentenced to five years in a Federal prison for financial skullduggery unrelated to the study." according to Leon Jardoff in Time Magazine.
The study is interesting, and a few other studies have found similar results. There are enough questions about this particular study that we really should be skeptical, though. Read more about the controversy here:
TIME - Leon Jaroff - : More Questions on Healing Prayer
Scroll halfway down to read the Jounal's response to unpublished letters critical of the study.