Prayer doesn’t work. Read the whole thing.
Okay, now, it’s not nice to pick on the religious. I know that, and the diligent reader will remember a bit of a dustup a while back to that effect. But there’s a reason I called the blog Antagony & Ecstasy, and not Friendly Funtime Ecstasy, and that’s because dammit, I enjoy taking the piss of people who I’m fairly certain are wrong.
In this case, it’s a test that shows intercessory prayer has no apparent health benefit after heart surgery. Which is old news. What’s so awesome to me is that people who knew they were getting prayed for did worse. Now, there are lots of possible explanations – they got nervous when they were told; they got cocky when they were told; God doesn’t exist but Satan does; but I’m not worried about that. Frankly, I just want to be a smug asshole and bask in the fact.
The question remains, though: why exactly is research money being spent this way?
(hat tip to Jack for the link)
UPDATE: a proper scientist weighs on the study (via Pharyngula).