Sooner or later it was inevitable that some studies would cast doubt on the efficacy of prayer. The law of averages guaranteed it.
A few years ago a friend of mine asked me to speak on "Science and Prayer and Healing" to an association of nurses. He suggested that I read some journal articles that seemed to prove that prayer had beneficial treatment effects. The more I studied the issue and reflected on it, the more uncomfortable I became with the suggestion that science could either prove or disprove the efficacy of a spiritual exercise. Here are a couple thoughts from the conclusion of the speech I gave those nurses:
Ultimately, God and his ways are mysterious. I think it foolish to attempt to predict how God would answer our prayers for healing. I would also hesitate to devise an experiment that even hints at measuring how receptive God is to prayer. No man or woman, not even a scientist, can put God to the test. . . .
There is a lot about the human mind and body that is still a mystery to medical science. It is the role of medical science to probe this natural unknown and reduce the size of nature's mystery. I believe that God gave us minds with the power to penetrate the mysteries of the physical and psychical world and he expects us to use them. Scientists are most faithful to God when they are skeptical about supernatural explanations for healing. It is the task of science to search for natural explanations. The world of nature can be controlled and manipulated to create treatments and remedies that can be beneficial to mankind. God, on the other hand, cannot and will not be controlled and manipulated by us -- no matter how good our intentions.
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