What do researchers say about the limits of medical science in studying intercessory prayer?
Theres a lot of debate. So, when these studies first started to be published, and there really havent been that many, I mean if we just read the newspapers we would think that there are hundreds. And, in reality, the studies that I looked at, which were only the double blind clinical trials, it looks like there have been between 15 and 20 studies published in medical journals since 1965. So its just not that many studies, theres a disproportionate amount of discussion and debate in comparison to actually the number of studies. So the early studies in the 70s and 80s, and into the 90s, the early 90s, the researchers were mostly saying that prayer did have an effect on other peoples health. And, since the early 1990s, basically all the studies have found that theres no effect. So, prayer, by strangers at a distance doesnt influence the health of people who are being prayed for. And so in the beginning the debate was all about, is this really the case and should we be changing our practic
