Prayer Kills, But Church Saves?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Religion, Science
A study came out recently that found prayer actually hurt the chances of a speedy recovery for those undergoing heart surgery. Frankly, I wasn’t really shocked by this but since this was such a limited study (only heart patients) I don’t think it really speaks to the full power of prayer.
However, now a different study show up on the radar, and this once finds that people who go to church live longer.
From Livescience.com:
“Religious attendance is not a mode of medical therapy,” said study leader Daniel Hall, a resident in general surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “While this study was not intended for use in clinical decision making, these findings tell us that there is something to examine further.”[...]
In a telephone interview, Hall speculated that the social aspect of religion could play a role in the results: “There is something about being knit into the type of community that religious communities embody that has a way of mediating a positive health effect,” he told LiveScience. Perhaps, he said, being involved in a religion “can then decrease your level of stress in life or increase your ability to cope with stress.”
Sure, the social aspect is important, but I also think that church-goers, on average, are less likely to be heavy drinkers and smokers. And I bet if you look at healthy marriages and their affect on overall health and well being, you’ll find similar stats.
However, the one thing that best improves your chances for living longer is still….drum roll please….regular physical exercise.
So while some may put their faith in the lord, I’ll put mine in free weights.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 4th, 2006 and is filed under Religion, Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 4th, 2006 at 3:36 pm
it just seems longer.
…insert rim shot here…
April 4th, 2006 at 4:31 pm
Heh…amen.
April 4th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
As George Carlin says; “I worship the Sun … IT keeps me warm, helps grow food and provides the same 50% chance of a prayer being answered.” or words to that effect.
“Sure, the social aspect is important, but I also think that church-goers, on average, are less likely to be heavy drinkers and smokers”
As I reach the end of mile number five on my daily walk, I think that I could go so much further if I quit smoking. Being married has not done a thing for that habit.
April 4th, 2006 at 7:23 pm
If prayer actually had the effect of hastening the end of someone else’s life on earth, I’d say it’s powerful stuff indeed. If the study actually had any scientific validity, we could draw the conclusion that prayer works, but not in the manner we intend or expect–y’know, God works in mysterious ways, and maybe thinks Eternal Life with Him is preferable to painful recovery from heart surgery.
Though the validity of the study is zero, because 1) a God who can hear and grant prayers would know they were studying him and could manipulate their evidence anyway he chose, and 2) how were the scientists going to be sure that the families, friends and communities of the control group patients completely abstained from praying.
April 5th, 2006 at 11:50 am
I would expect Catholics to be amongst the most long-lived.
An average Catholic mass has you stand up, sit down, and kneel maybe 50 times in the space of an hour. Plus, you get a small serving of fiber and red wine. Very heart-smart.
April 5th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
I’m an athiest. My wife is a gung-ho, born-again christian.
(She doesn’t know I’m an athiest)
We both work out. I’ll let you know how things are going in about
50 years.
April 5th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
I think God totally manipulated the test results so that they would come out His way. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that sooner. I have another theory though. About a year ago I met a man on the street who said he was sorry to inform me, especially since I looked like such a nice person, that Jesus hates me. I bet that’s why prayers don’t work on me. Maybe some of the people in the study had been cursed in a similar fashion.