The Cost of Prayer
Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Wastewatcher, October 2004

Controversy over prayer has recently extended beyond prayer in public schools.  The latest debate is whether the government should use tax dollars to study the healing effects of prayer.  According to The New York Times, the federal government has spent $2.3 million over the past four years on prayer research.  The studies include the effects of prayer on a variety of specific illnesses such as coronary diseases, AIDS and brain tumors. 

Critics of prayer research range from doctors and psychologists to religious leaders and churchgoers.  Doctors and psychologists argue that the federal government should not waste millions to study something that is by definition beyond the scope of science.  Some pastors say that reducing prayer to a scientific variable is an affront to God.   

The $2.3 million for prayer research is just the beginning of government funding for alternative medicine.  The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health backs numerous alternative medicinal research projects such as acupuncture and massage healing for the elderly.  A common theme among the NCCAM’s 2003 projects grants was the “placebo effect.”  The placebo effect is the felt improvement in health which cannot be attributed to medical treatment.  In other words, patients can explore numerous alternative ways to heal themselves which usually do not involve prescriptions or doctor check-ups.  Common placebo treatments include sugar pills, fake surgery, prayer, shamans and other religious healers. 

One government-funded placebo effect project is being conducted at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.  After performing breast reconstruction surgery, doctors make a small stab wound on the abdomens of women who have consented to the deliberate infliction to evaluate whether “focused intention” of healers quickens healing of the women’s wounds.  Another study focused on the effects and popularity of complimentary medicine such as yoga, acupuncture, and prayer, combined with doctor-prescribed medical treatment. 

The biggest problem with prayer research is that the variables are difficult to measure.  There is simply no way to accurately measure a prayer “dosage.”  Some projects require constant prayer from individual healers or religious leaders; other studies entail entire church congregations praying together.  Some projects involve only Christians while other studies have rabbis, New Age healers, or combinations of numerous religions.

While prayer may help patients recover from illnesses and injuries, the federal government should not be confiscating the hard-earned dollars of taxpayers to fund projects that cannot accurately measure how the “treatment” works.  There are many privately-funded organizations like the Mind/Body Medical Institute and the John Templeton Foundation that support prayer research.  The government should leave the praying to the public and stop wasting money on inconclusive, non-scientific research.