Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in cardiac bypass patients: A multicenter randomized trial of uncertainty and certainty of receiving intercessory prayer. Prayer is not a scientific experiment and subject to poorly designed research methodology. The Templeton Press has published more than 200 books in its core publishing areas of The Virtues, Science & the Big Questions, Health & Spirituality, and Freedom & Free Markets. Am Heart J . الصفحات المتبقية هي باللغة الإنجليزية فقط. This is very significant. Thanks for breaking down the study. The family, doctors, friends and the person praying? were split into three groups of about 600 apiece: those who knew they were being prayed for, those who were prayed for … The authors of the study collected data from 1,802 patients in six hospitals in the United States and randomly assigned them to 1 of 3 groups: 604 were told they may or may not receive prayers and they received intercessory prayers; 597 were told they may or may not receive prayers and they did not receive prayers; and 601 received prayers after being told they would receive prayers. Benson, H., Dusek, J.A., Sherwood, J.B., Lam, P., Bethea, C.F., Carpenter, W., Levitsky, S., Hill, P.C., Clem, D.W., Jain, M.K., Drumel, D. Kopecky, S.L., Mueller, P.S., Marek, D., Rollins, S. & Hibberd, P.L. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. الصفحات المتبقية هي باللغة الإنجليزية فقط. Another study—a relatively well regarded, Templeton-funded $2.4 million project directed by Herbert Benson—studied 1,802 patients recovering from coronary artery bypass graft surgery and concluded that “distant prayer” had no effect. In 1872, the Victorian scientist Francis Galton made the first statistical analysis of third-party prayer. A recently published book by Harold Koenig, Spirituality and Health Research: Methods, Measurement, Statistics, and Resources (2012, Templeton) offers a comprehensive overview and resources for research in spirituality and health, including prayer. He hypothesized, partly as satire, that if prayer were effective, members of the British Royal Family would live longer than average, given that thousands prayed for their well-being every Sunday, and he prayed over randomized plots of land to see whether the plants would grow any faster, and found no correlation in either case. Christians prayed for 14 days from afar, starting the night before patients were going to coronary artery bypass surgery. True to the stereotype of a fuming boss who suddenly keels over from a heart attack, generally angry people were found to have worse cardiovascular health, while generally forgiving people showed better outcomes. I have been prayed for and have been healed. They call themselves Christians but do not affirm all of Jesus’ teachings, such as “I am the way, the truth and the life. Fincham’s research found that the ability to forgive one’s mother (for unspecified transgressions) seemed to reduce the likelihood of “intergenerational transmission” of violence in three of the four possible pairings of roles (perpetrator and victim, parent and offspring). But they certainly suggest that in the aspects of the world that psychologists can measure, there are clear benefits to a praying and forgiving life. The investigators probably had good intentions – but I think it made no sense to do the trial. Support for its titles goes well beyond traditional book publishing, including interactive websites, public action campaigns, smart phone apps, and scholarship contests. Below I have summarized the study methodology and results before offering the limitations that should be considered before making such assertions. “Almost all subjects believed that friends, relatives, and/or members of their religious institution would be praying for them—group 1 (95.0% [574/604]), group 2 (96.8% [579/597]), and group 3 (96.0% [577/601]).”. John Templeton Foundation. Only a few pages are translated into other languages. The study cost $2.4 million, and most of the money came from the John Templeton Foundation, which supports research into spirituality. Over the course of dozens of studies, Frank Fincham has compiled an impressive list of ways that prayer and forgiveness make a difference. The only scenario where a forgiving attitude did not seem to help was when the father perpetrated the initial violence and the offspring later became a domestic violence victim. Religious skeptics often point to the results from the Templeton prayer study (Dusek et al., 2002; Benson et al., 2004), which is the largest study of intercessory prayer to be conducted to date, to claim prayer doesn’t work. “The finding that intercessory prayer, as provided in this study, had no effect on complication-free recovery from CABG may be due to the study limitations. a request for prayer) and determine the underlying issues that motivate the requests, for example, existential pain, or the religious, spiritual or social needs of the patient or the person making the request (e.g. Dusek, J.A., Sherwood, J.B., Friedman, R., Myers, P., Bethea, C.F., Levitsky, S., Hill, P.C., Jain, M.K., Kopecky, S.L., Mueller, P.S. Major events and 30-day mortality were similar across the 3 groups.” (Benson et al., 2004, p. 934). Researchconsistently shows that prayer can have numerousbenefits. ( Log Out /  They were asked to give a very specific prayer “for a successful surgery with a quick, healthy recovery and no complications” to a person they had never met who was identified only by a first name and last initial. This book brings together an inspirational collection of prayer suitable for all ages and traditions. The information is presented for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or prescribe any medical or psychological condition, nor to prevent, treat, mitigate or cure such conditions. ( Log Out /  A fourth limitation Christians may note relates to the specific religious sects chosen for the study. Lam, P., Benson, H. & Hibberd, P.L. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. In fact, they point to the results, which suggest prayers made things worse for those to whom prayers were directed. Fincham and his colleagues  looked at the ways that an attitude of forgiveness — considered as a personality trait rather than as forgiveness for any one transgression — might help break that cycle. Thirdly, the patients had varying opinions on the efficacy of prayer, which may have impacted results. Thank God for effective prayer. Copyright © 2021 John Templeton Foundation. Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP): Study design and research methods. “In the 2 groups uncertain about receiving intercessory prayer, complications occurred in 52% (315/604) of patients who received intercessory prayer versus 51% (304/597) of those who did not (relative risk 1.02, 95% CI 0.92-1.15). The psychology of prayer, and meditation: How do religious and spiritual affect... 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