HEALING PRAYER: CAN IT REALLY HELP? by Dr. Scott Rogers, Chiropractic Physician

Putting Prayer to the Test.    Note: Dr. Scott Rogers authored this article prior to his passing. He is remembered fondly.

The faithful of all religions have long believed that prayer can help physical healing. But is there any scientific evidence for this idea?

In July, 1988, the Southern Medical Journal published the results of an experiment conducted at San Francisco General Hospital. In this prospective, double-blind study, a computer randomly assigned 393 patients admitted to the coronary care unit into two groups: one that was prayed for, or one that was not.

Those who prayed belonged to a variety of Catholic or Protestant prayer groups around the country, and did not personally know the patients they were praying for – only their names and conditions. The groups prayed for their patients daily for 10 months. The results?

  • Patients receiving prayer were 5 times LESS likely to require antibiotics than those who were not;
  • Recipients of prayer were 3 times LESS likely to develop pulmonary edema (lungs filling with fluid);
  • NONE of the prayed-for group required an artificial airway in their throat, while 12 of those who were not prayed for needed mechanical ventilator support;
  • Fewer patients in the prayed-for group died;
  • The prayers were equally effective whether the patient was a just few blocks from the prayer group, or hundreds of miles away.

Obviously, something is going on here, even though this particular experiment did not attract much attention in medical circles. However, if the technique in this study had been a drug or surgical procedure, the scientific community would probably have regarded it as a significant breakthrough. If you’re interested in more information; see the following website;

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3393937/