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A SCIENTIFIC LOOK AT ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Faith Healing and Other Topics Related to Religion

Thomas J. Wheeler, PhD

Associate Professor (retired), Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,

University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville KY

thomas.wheeler@louisville.edu

Revised 2020

This material was originally part of a handout for an elective course given to

medical students at the University of Louisville.

Copyright 2020. Permission to copy for non-profit uses is granted as long as proper citation of the source is given.

CONTENTS

Faith healers

Christian Science

Legal aspects related to medical care for children

and dependent adults

Psychic surgery

Healing places

Intercessory prayer

References

FAITH HEALERS

Techniques employed in some faith healing services

"Slaying in the spirit" - the person being "healed" is struck on forehead and falls backwards into arms of "catchers."

Lengthening a "short leg" - a trick of stage magic, based on an optical illusion

Wheelchair tricks - a person is told to get out of wheelchair and walk or run, or to push the preacher in chair. Often these are people who do not need to be in wheelchairs; they were seated in wheelchairs provided by the ministry prior to the service.

Healing the "blind" - the healer may ask the person to count fingers held before him. However, many legally blind people can see well enough to do this.

"Shotgun" method - the healer announces that someone in the audience is being healed of a certain ailment. Pat Robertson has done this with his television audience ("Word of Knowledge").

"Calling out," "gift of knowledge" - healers calls out a member of audience, identifying name, disease, doctor, etc., supposedly without having talked to the person previously. This gives the impression that the information comes from God. However, the information is received from pre-service interviews, survey cards, etc. The information is remembered by the preacher using mnemonic devices, or conveyed through hand signals and other means. The preacher may also employ cold reading, in which a perceptive observer, aided by clever guesses and leading questions, can appear to know a great deal about a person he or she has just met.

Arguments against, characteristics of pseudoscience, etc.

Fantastic claims without supporting evidence (Oral Roberts has even claimed to raise the dead.)

Numerous attempts to document healing with before and after medical records have failed to provide convincing evidence. Many healers do not respond to requests for information that would allow documentation.

Healers do not do followup studies and report results to audiences. There are many cases of "healed" individuals who still had their ailments, some even dying soon after.

Ailments that are "healed" are internal conditions; the healing cannot be verified by the audience. We do not see missing limbs restored. "Impossible" cases may be segregated away from potential subjects prior to the service.

A long period of preaching and singing precedes the healing part of the service, building up audience expectations, excitement, and emotion; audience members become less likely to critically evaluate the evidence. The “healed” person may be less likely to feel pain.

Some "healing" is likely of psychosomatic conditions.

Some subjects report subjective feelings of being healed, even though medical data shows they were not. They may not seek medical confirmation of "healing."

Some "healing" appears to be fraudulent (e.g., patients and doctors could not be located despite detailed information provided to audience).

Failure to be cured can be attributed to insufficient faith. The subject is then left with feelings of guilt.

Performances have elements of a morality play, in which audience members play roles expected of them and agree to go along with the dramatic action.

Trickery of the sort used by stage magicians

There have been cases of the same person being "healed" of the same "short leg" more than once, with the leg allegedly being lengthened 2-3" each time

People throw away needed medications (e.g., insulin, blood pressure medication, nitroglycerin) during services. There has been at least one death of a patient with diabetes after discarding insulin.

Canes and walkers are broken and thrown on stage; subjects later find that they need them.

Exaggerations of the nature and extent of the ailments, or misidentification to the audience of the true ailment

In tests by skeptics of "calling out," fake names and illnesses given beforehand were repeated by the healers.

Financial improprieties and other deceptions by some healers

Critics are attacked as being agents of Satan, etc.

Pat Robertson's successful "Word of Knowledge" pronouncements are likely due to the statistical likelihood that someone in the audience will spontaneously recover from the indicated ailment. There is no attempt to verify the proportion of successful and unsuccessful identifications of "healing."

Faith healers seek conventional medical care for themselves.

Television programs are carefully edited to remove potentially embarrassing material.

Some alleged cases of medical confirmation of healing were found to have inaccuracies and misinterpretation of medical evidence.

Other points

A currently prominent American faith healer is Benny Hinn (Toufik Benedictus Hinn, born 1952), "best known for his regular 'Miracle Crusades' - revival meeting or faith healing summits that are usually held in stadiums in major cities, which are later broadcast worldwide on his television program, This Is Your Day" (Wikipedia 2020. Benny Hinn). "In two cases journalists have tried to verify all the healings at a particular crusade. For an HBO documentary called A Question of Miracles, researchers attended a Portland, Oregon, crusade at which 76 miracles were claimed. Even though Hinn had agreed to provide medical verification of each one, he stonewalled requests for the data, then eventually responded 13 weeks later - with only five names. HBO followed up the five cases and determined that a woman 'cured' of lung cancer had died nine months later, an old woman's broken vertebra wasn't healed after all, a man with a logging injury deteriorated as he refused medication and a needed operation, a woman claiming to be healed of deafness had never been deaf (according to her husband), and a woman complaining of 'breathlessness' had stopped going to the doctor on instructions of her mother. Then in December 2002 NBC's Dateline tried to duplicate the HBO study. At a crusade in Las Vegas they counted 56 miracles. Of those, Hinn eventually provided data 'proving' five of them. Four of those people refused to share their medical records with NBC. The remaining one, a woman supposedly cured of Lou Gehrig's Disease, had been misdiagnosed, according to her doctor" (Bloom 2008 May 20. Wittenburg Door).

Governments are generally uninterested in prosecution of faith healers, being worried about violating freedom of religion. (Are faith healers practicing medicine illegally?)

Do the publicized "miracles" of faith healers make it more likely that parents who belong to certain sects will rely on faith healing rather than seeking medical care for their children?

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE (Church of Christ, Scientist)

Established by Mary Baker Eddy, 1879. Authorized text: Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures (1875).

Beliefs: "Humans and the physical universe are really perfect ideas that emanate from God and reflects his harmonious and eternal existence. Only God, his manifestations, and the synonyms that express the completeness of his nature - Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love - exist; all else, especially body, matter, death, error, and evil, are merely illusions, the nonexistence of which is proved as humans grow to reflect God" (Schoepflin 1988. In: Gevitz N, editor. Other Healers. 192-214). Disease is considered an illusion, and is treated through prayer, identification of harmful thoughts, etc.; practitioners assist in the healing.

"Practitioners take two weeks of religious instruction and then can apply for church accreditation as professional healers. They charge between $7 and $25 a day for spiritual 'treatments,' usually given without seeing the 'patient' or knowing the nature of the illness. The church gives them no limits on what diseases they may treat or any duty to refer cases to other health care providers" (Swan 1984. Free Inquiry. Spring:4-9).

"Christian Science nurses care for their patients and assist practitioners by holding pure thoughts that make a positive contribution to the healing atmosphere...'The nurse dresses wounds and keeps the body clean, comfortable, and nourished so that it intrudes less on the patient's thought'...practitioners often 'cure,' while nurses 'care for,' patients" (Schoepflin 1988. Op. cit.).

Barrett (2016. Christian Science statistics: practitioners, teachers, nurses, and churches in the United States. Quackwatch) tabulated statistics from the church's online directory. In 2016 there were 942 practitioners and teachers, 778 churches, and 432 nurses. The number of practitioners and teachers "has declined an average of about 5% per year," while the number of churches "has declined about 2% per year." The church does not provide membership numbers; there were an estimated 106,000 members in the U.S. in 1990.

Allowed by the church: seeking treatment for setting bones; eyeglasses; dental treatments; deliveries of babies by doctors; injections for relief of extreme pain, vaccinations (when required by law).

The church has opposed drugs, immunizations, X-rays, fever thermometers, taking pulses, and pain relief measures such as ice packs and back rubs. However, "In 2010 the New York Times reported church leaders as saying that, for over a year, they had been 'encouraging members to see a physician if they feel it is necessary,' and that they were repositioning Christian Science prayer as a supplement to medical care, rather than a substitute" (Wikipedia 2020. Christian Science).

"After the conviction for manslaughter in 1967 of the Christian Scientist mother of five-year-old Lisa Sheridan, who died without medical care...the church lobbied the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) to add a religious exemption to the Code of Federal Regulations. Added in 1974, this stated that parents who did not provide medical treatment for a child for religious reasons would not be considered negligent. States were thereafter obliged to include exemptions or lose funding; the wording of the exemptions made clear that they referred to Christian Science...the government eliminated the HEW regulation in 1983, but 39 states, as well as Guam and the District of Columbia, still had religious exemptions in their civil codes on child abuse and neglect as of February 2015. As of June 2019, the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.) and 45 states granted religious exemptions, and 15 granted philosophical exemptions, from laws requiring vaccination. Three states (Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington) say that offering a child treatment from a Christian Science practitioner, 'in lieu of medical care,' is not regarded as neglect. The state of Washington religious exemption as of September 2019 reads: 'It is the intent of the legislature that a person who, in good faith, is furnished Christian Science treatment by a duly accredited Christian Science practitioner in lieu of medical care is not considered deprived of medically necessary health care or abandoned'" (Wikipedia 2020. Christian Science).

"Various U.S. federal, state, and private health insurance plans provide for the reimbursement of Christian Science nursing care and practitioner treatment. The U.S. Federal Office [of the Church] has been working to increase the availability of insurance options that cover these types of care...Eleven Christian Science nursing facilities across the United States are Medicare providers" (Christian Science 2020. Insurance and Christian Science).

In 1996, a federal judge ruled against Medicare (then estimated at $8 million per year) and Medicaid payments to Christian Science practitioners on the grounds of separation of church and state. However, “Congress responded by replacing references to Christian Science with the new RNCHI [religious nonmedical health care institutions] designation” (Anon. 2001 May 7. American Medical News). This was upheld by federal court decisions.

The church claims that its methods have been proven "scientific" and verified by decades of empirical evidence (and therefore it is distinct from other groups that believe in faith healing). However, "healings" are poorly documented, and evidence is unavailable for others to examine.

Christian Scientists point out that they have above average health despite not seeking conventional medical care. This may be in part because they advocate healthy lifestyles, and abstain from alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. A 1950's study found, however, higher than average death rates due to malignancy and heart disease, and a lower than average life expectancy, for Christian Scientists. A more recent study (Simpson 1989. JAMA. 262(12):1657-8) also concluded a higher death rate.

LEGAL ASPECTS RELATED TO MEDICAL CARE FOR CHILDREN AND DEPENDENT ADULTS

General

According to a 1974 federal regulation "religious immunity" provision, which was once required for states to be eligible for federal funding for child protection programs:

A parent or guardian legitimately practicing his religious beliefs who thereby does not provide specified medical treatment for a child for that reason alone shall not be considered a negligent parent or guardian; however, such an exception shall not preclude a court from ordering that medical services be provided to the child, where his health requires it.

As a result many states adopted similar provisions, in some cases referring specifically or indirectly to Christian Science (see discussion above in the Christian Science section). The provision was removed from the federal code in 1983; failure to provide medical care was made a reportable condition whether or not supported by religious belief. However, some states have retained their exemptions. Five states (Iowa, Ohio, Delaware, West Virginia, Arkansas) provide religious exemptions for crimes ranging from manslaughter to murder for deaths of children from medical neglect.

“In 1996 the first religious exemption allowing parents to withhold medical care was placed in federal law. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act requires states in the federal grant program to include failure to provide medical care in their definitions of child neglect, but also states: ‘Nothing in this Act shall be construed as establishing a Federal requirement that a parent or legal guardian provide a child any medical service or treatment against the religious beliefs of the parent or legal guardian.’ Thus, the federal government allows one class of children to be deprived of protections it offers to others” (Swan 1998/9. Free Inquiry. Winter:6-7).

Asser and Swan (1998. Pediatrics. 101(4 Pt 1):625-9) identified 172 cases between 1975 and 1995 of children who died of “religion-motivated medical neglect,” having conditions with high probabilities of survival with proper treatment. They suspect that many more cases have occurred, with deaths being attributed to natural causes. After their data were compiled, the cemetery of a faith-healing congregation in Oregon was found to contain 21 children who probably would have survived with proper medical care (Time 1998 Aug 31).

Asser and Swan also note that “outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases among groups with religious exemptions to immunization are reported frequently.”

"Child advocates estimate that 183 Idaho children have died because of withheld medical treatment since states across the nation enacted faith-healing exemptions in the early 1970s" (Washington Post story cited by Gorski 2018 Feb 21. Respectful Insolence). Some believers in faith healing moved to Idaho after Oregon removed its religious exemption from prosecution.

Many prosecutions in various places have involved fundamentalist groups, but not Christian Scientists, who are given greater legal recognition.

“California, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio statutes offer religious exemptions from physical examinations of school children. California, Connecticut, New Jersey, and West Virginia have a religious exemption from hearing tests for newborns. California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio have statutes excusing students with religious objections from even studying about disease in school. And California has a religious exemption from tuberculosis testing of public school teachers” (Swan 2000. The Humanist. Nov/Dec:11-16).

Issues

Freedom of religion vs. rights of children (and interests of state to protect those rights). Is freedom of religion a defense for actions that result in harm to another person?

Right of parents to decide what is best for child's welfare

Possible violation of First Amendment (establishment of religion): laws that give Christian Science special status not given to other religious groups

Practical problems in legal situations

In some cases there are provisions for court orders for necessary medical treatment. However, when a sect rejects all medical treatment and diagnosis, potentially dangerous conditions may not be recognized in time.

Difficulty in proving that the disease could be treated successfully with conventional care

Difficulty of proving that parents knew the child's life was in danger, especially with lack of diagnosis. Children may be trained not to show pain.

Results of some court cases and other recent (2010 or later) happenings

The American Academy of Pediatrics (Anon. 1988. Pediatrics. 81(1):169-71) discussed "important court rulings to the effect that parents may not martyr their children based on parental beliefs and that children cannot be denied essential medical care" (citations of 1944, 1964, and 1967 cases were given). From the 1944 Supreme Court decision, dealing with the child of a Jehovah's Witness:

The right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community or the child to communicable disease or the latter to ill health or death...Parents may be free to become martyrs themselves. But it does not follow that they are free, in identical circumstances, to make martyrs of their children before they have reached the age of full and legal discretion when they can make that choice for themselves.

2010 - Pennsylvania - 2-year old died of bacterial pneumonia. The parents were convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

2011 - Oregon - medical care was ordered for a child with hemangioma; parents were found guilty of felony criminal mistreatment.

"In Oregon, a 2011 law finally eliminated religious beliefs as a legal defense, allowing prosecutors to seek murder charges against parents who deny their children medical care for religious reasons...Unfortunately, religious shield laws still exist in every other state except Hawaii, Nebraska, Massachusetts, Maryland, and North Carolina" (Hall 2014. Skeptic. 19(2):8-9).

More recently, Gorski (2018 Feb 21. Respectful Insolence) wrote: "It turns out that in Idaho and more than half of the other states, there exists some form of religious exemption that allows parents to withhold medical treatment from a child if their religion forbids it. Only sixteen states have no religious exemption, and it took decades of lobbying for child advocates to finally succeed in overturning religious exemptions in Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, Oregon and Tennessee."

"But Oregon law still allows religious exemptions for caregivers of dependent adults, and it still allows religious exemptions for immunizations, metabolic screening (for conditions like PKU), newborn hearing screening, vitamin K and prophylactic eye drops for newborns, and bicycle helmets" (Hall 2014. Skeptical Inquirer. 38(4):42-6).

2012 - Oregon - parents who were faith healers pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and were sentenced to five years probation after their son died of appendicitis.

2014 - Pennsylvania - 2-year old died of pneumonia and dehydration. The parents were convicted of third-degree homicide and sentenced to 3-1/2 to 7 years in prison. The same parents had earlier had another child die similarly, and had been convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to probation.

2017 - Colorado - girl suffered severe consequences of years of untreated epilepsy. Lawyers "claimed the parents were guided by their spiritual beliefs and should be exempt from prosecution under the religious exemption law that had been repealed in Colorado in 2001" (Hall 2017 May 2. Science-Based Medicine). The parents were found guilty of felony child abuse and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

2017 - Alberta - boy died from untreated diabetes. Parents convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

2020 - Alaska - woman caring for her mother, who had epilepsy, wanted to treat her only with faith healing. The state Supreme Court ruled against her and removed her from guardianship.

PSYCHIC SURGERY

"Psychic surgery" is a sleight-of-hand trick practiced by hundreds of "psychic surgeons" in Philippines, Brazil, and elsewhere. The "surgeon" pretends to make an incision with bare hands, removes tumors and other materials, and recloses the wound. Blood appears. However, blood and tissues have been found to be of animal origin, not from the patients.

"Medical anthropologists have described the development of psychic surgery in the Philippines as a 'transition from traditional shamanism ("extraction" from the body of leaves, seeds, worms, hair, etc.) to the appearance of Western scientific medicine ("extraction" of blood, tissue, tumors, organs)'" (American Cancer Society 1990. CA Cancer J Clin. 40(3):184-8).

At one point, patients from U.S. (thousands per year), England, Japan, Australia, and other countries traveled to be "healed" by the psychic surgeons. Tours were promoted by travel agencies, some affiliated with the healers. The Federal Trade Commission brought charges against four travel agencies and their officers; the court determined that "psychic surgery is pure fakery and a fraud," and ordered the defendants to cease promoting visits to psychic surgeons.

There is a spiritual component; healers claim to be able to facilitate divine healing. Prayer and meditation may also be part of the treatment.

Brazilian “healer” João Teixeira de Faria (known as “John of God”) (born 1942) claims to channel forty deceased physicians, and performs both “visible” and “invisible” operations. In the former, he uses the well-known stunts of inserting forceps in the nose and scraping the eyeball. He received publicity in 2005 from a gullible ABC “investigation.” Nickell (2007. Skeptical Inquirer. 31(5):20-2), who investigated John's claims, wrote "The twisting of forceps up a pilgrim’s nose is an old circus and carnival sideshow stunt...Looking far more tortuous than it is, the feat depends on the fact that, unknown to many people, there is a sinus cavity that extends horizontally from the nostrils over the roof of the mouth to a surprising distance - enough to accommodate a spike, icepick, or other implement...A surgeon who commented on John of God’s incisions stated that they were superficial (little more than skin deep, apparently) and would not be expected either to bleed very much or even to cause much initial pain. The same is true of scraping the white of the eye or inserting something into the nasal cavity." Schwarcz (2016 Jul 22. Montreal Gazette) pointed out that "John maintains that the success of his treatment hinges on the patient abstaining from drinking alcohol, eating pork and having sex for 40 days after treatment. That can provide for a convenient 'out' in case no miracle occurs. Patients can be healed even if they are unable to travel to Brazil. All that is needed is a surrogate willing to undergo the spiritual surgery. No evidence for this remote healing is provided." He also noted that in 2015, John sought conventional medical treatment for heart problems rather than curing himself. "In 2018, after over 600 accusations of sexual abuse, he turned himself in to police. In December 2019 he was sentenced to 19 years and four months for the rapes of four different women. On 20 January 2020, Faria was sentenced to an additional 40 years in prison for rape against 5 women" (Wikipedia 2020. João Teixeira de Faria).

HEALING PLACES

Lourdes (France)

Site of vision by Bernadette Soubirous in 1859 (she did not, however, make any claim regarding healing). A shrine was established in 1876 (there were already 14 similar healing shrines in the area).

Those seeking healing bathe in mineral springs or drink the spring water.

There are million of visitors a year. A large tourist industry has grown around the shrine, with 300 hotels and many souvenir stores.

There are an alleged 30,000 healing a year, but total of only 69 recognized as miracles (as of 2015) by the Roman Catholic Church (7000 alleged cures have been rejected). As medical knowledge has improved, recognized miracles have become less frequent. An examination of some more recent recognized cures showed the documentation to be inadequate. Several were of multiple sclerosis, which often has long periods of remission. One "cured" woman later died of her ailment.

In 2008 it was reported that "An international doctors panel appointed by the Roman Catholic Church says it's getting out of the business of judging if pilgrims to the French shrine of Lourdes may have benefited from miracle healing. The panel known as CMIL, decided over the weekend that it will still acknowledge cases of 'remarkable' healing, but leave it up to the church to decide whether they make the cut as miracles, the panel's secretary said" (Keaten 2008 Dec 3. Doctors' panel won't rule on "miracles" at Lourdes. Associated Press).

Other

Healings are associated with many other locations, particularly sites of visions of Mary by Roman Catholics. Medjugorje, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is a popular site for pilgrims. Apparitions of Mary or Jesus have become more common in the U.S., sometimes as images which viewers see in ordinary objects. Another phenomenon is that of statues, icons, or pictures that allegedly produce tears or blood.

INTERCESSORY PRAYER

The value of prayer was promoted by Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine. However, as pointed out by critic Gary Posner, “Dossey builds his case largely upon anecdotes and the work of parapsychologists, and appears to accept their supernatural claims at face value” (Posner 1994. Free Inquiry. 14(3)). He showed little awareness of the counter arguments raised by skeptics.

Tippens et al. (2009. J Altern Complement Med. 15(4):435-8) wrote: "defining prayer as CAM potentially inflates the statistics of CAM use...Reports that do not separate prayer from other CAM modalities present findings that give the illusion that CAM is used by the majority of people, and often do not accurately represent CAM as therapies practiced under the purview and guidance of CAM practitioners. The broad inclusion of prayer in surveys allows CAM to claim as users anyone who attended church in the past year, or prayed for a friend or relative with arthritis pain. This inclusion in essence 'pads the numbers' and does not distinguish the act of prayer from experience of spiritual healing."

Most of the studies cited below deal with prayer by people remote from the patients, without the patients being aware of whether they are being prayed for (otherwise, placebo effects could account for positive results).

A widely cited study is Byrd (1988. South Med J. 81(7):826-9): prayed-for patients in coronary care unit had better recovery by some measures. An attempt to replicate this study was published by Harris et al. in 1999 (Arch Intern Med. 159(19):2273-8.), with allegedly positive effects of prayer. Critics found many flaws in the two studies. For example, despite the supposed benefits of prayer, there were no effects on lengths of stay in the hospital or deaths. Yet another study of CCU patients (Aviles et al. 2001. Mayo Clin Proc. 76(12):1192-8) found no benefit of intercessory prayer. Other studies of heart patients (Krucoff et al. 2005. Lancet. 366(9481):211-7; Benson et al. 2006. Am Heart J. 215(4):934-42) also found no benefits. In the latter, one arm was prayed for and was aware of receiving prayer; these patients had a higher incidence of complications.

Other negative studies include one of alcoholics and one on arthritis.

In 1998, E. Targ published a study of intercessory prayer for AIDS patients, which supposedly showed positive effects (Sicher et al. West J Med. 169(6):356-63). She then received $1.5 million from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine for two larger trials (she died in 2002, but the trials continued). In 2002 it was revealed that the earlier study was flawed by improper data manipulation: the primary outcome (mortality) showed no effect; the data were then unblinded and searched for a secondary outcome that would support a benefit of prayer. "A later study listing Targ as an author was published in 2006, five years after her death. The study featured a much larger group of subjects (150 rather than 40), and concluded that the only difference between groups that received healing prayer and those that did not was that the group receiving prayer were more likely to guess they were the experimental subjects rather than the control group. There was no difference found between longevity, symptoms, or any other clinically meaningful outcome" (Wikipedia 2020. Elisabeth Targ) (the paper was: Astin et al. 2006. Altern Ther Health Med. 12(6):36-41).

A study by Cha et al. (2001. J Reprod Med. 46(9):781-7) indicated that intercessory prayer increased the success rate of in vitro fertilization. A critique by Flamm (2002. Sci Rev Altern Med 6:47-50) found many flaws in the study. In 2004, one of the authors (Wirth), associated with promoting other paranormal claims, pleaded guilty to business fraud. The senior author (Lobo) admitted that he was only involved in editorial assistance after the study was completed, and withdrew his name from the article. The first author (Cha) appears to have been guilty of plagiarism and misrepresenting his medical credentials.

Miranda et al. (2020. J Relig Health. 2020 Feb;59(1):365-80) reported various benefits of intercessory prayer for breast cancer patients receiving radiotherapy. Ernst (2019 Nov 18. Edzard Ernst blog) found serious flaws in this study, and wrote that "the conclusion that IP generates positive effects is not warranted by these new findings."

Reviews

• Masters et al. 2006. Ann Behav Med. 32(1):21-6: "There is no scientifically discernable effect for IP [distant intercessory prayer] as assessed in controlled studies. Given that the IP literature lacks a theoretical or theological base and has failed to produce significant findings in controlled trials, we recommend that further resources not be allocated to this line of research." The authors reported the same conclusion in another review (Masters and Speilmans 2007. J Behav Med. 30(4):329-38).

• Hodge 2007. Res Social Work Pract. 17(2):174-87: "Meta-analysis indicated small, but significant effect sizes for the use of intercessory prayer (g = -.171, p = .015)."

• Roberts et al. 2009. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. CD000368: "These findings are equivocal and, although some of the results of individual studies suggest a positive effect of intercessory prayer, the majority do not and the evidence does not support a recommendation either in favour or against the use of intercessory prayer. We are not convinced that further trials of this intervention should be undertaken and would prefer to see any resources available for such a trial used to investigate other questions in health care."

Scientific critique

Ernst (2006. J Pain Symptom Manage. 32(5):393-5), in discussing spiritual healing, wrote "Healing can be expensive and might divert patients from effective treatments. If it helps some patients through the power of belief, we should remember that treatments that are effective beyond placebo also come with the 'free bonus' of a placebo response - we do not need a placebo treatment for generating a placebo response. Most important, spiritual healing might promote the belief in a supernatural healing 'energy,' which undermines rationality in general. In turn, this has the potential to boost pseudoscience, creationism, or worse."

Gaudia (2007. MedGenMed. 9(1):56) wrote, "There is incredible irony in all of the previous 'experiments' involving intercessory prayer. Every one of them has been seeking evidence of a most trivial kind that could even be mistaken for a placebo effect, or a statistical artifact, from an alleged Power of the most unimaginable magnitude...If we were speaking of magic or sorcery, or any belief systems outside of Western Judeo-Christian tradition, most investigators would agree that these ideas (of intercessory prayer's effectiveness) are ridiculous and consist of superstition at best. In only one area, the field of Judeo-Christian theology, are the very same phantasms accorded the status of legitimate entity, and amenable to scientific scrutiny. Why?"

REFERENCES

Faith healing - general

Barrett S. 2009. Some thoughts about faith healing. Quackwatch

Faith healing ministries

Bloom J. 2008 May 20. Why Benny Hinn Became Our Wacky Neighbor. Wittenburg Door

Faith healing denominations

Barrett S. 2016. Christian Science statistics: practitioners, teachers, and churches in the United States. Quackwatch

Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance 2013. Prayer as a supplement to, or a replacement for, medical treatment

Children’s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty (CHILD)

Asser S, Swan R. 1998. Child fatalities from religion-motivated medical neglect. Pediatrics. 101(4 Pt 1):625-9 [abstract]

American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Bioethics. 1997. Religious objections to medical care. Pediatrics. 99(2):279-281

Hall H. 2017 May 2. Medical neglect of children. Science-Based Medicine

Gorski D. 2018 Feb 21. Idaho: The capital of the US for religion-inspired medical neglect of children, thanks to the Followers of Christ. Respectful Insolence

Psychic surgery

Lincoln PJ, Wood NJ. 1979. Psychic surgery: A serological investigation. Lancet. 1(8127):1197-8 [Analysis of blood from psychic surgery found that it was pig blood.]

Randi J. 2005. The ABC-TV infomercial on John of God. Swift, Feb. 18

Nickell J. 2007. "John of God": Healing by entities? Skeptical Inquirer. 31(5):20-2

Schwarcz J. 2016 Jul 22. The Right Chemistry: Brazilian "healer" John of God leads cancer patients by the nose. Montreal Gazette

Healing places

Eckholm E. 2008 Feb 20. A pastor begs to differ with flock on miracles. New York Times

Keaten J. 2008 Dec 3. Doctors' panel won't rule on "miracles" at Lourdes. Associated Press

Intercessory prayer

Reviews of intercessory prayer:

• Astin JA, Harkness E, Ernst E. 2000. The efficacy of "distant healing": a systematic review of randomized trials. Ann Intern Med. 132(11):903-10 [abstract]

• Masters KS, Spielmans GI, Goodson JT. 2006. Are there demonstrable effects of distant intercessory prayer? A meta-analytic review. Ann Behav Med. 32(1):21-6 [abstract]

• Masters KS, Spielmans GI. 2007. Prayer and health: review, meta-analysis, and research agenda. J Behav Med. 30(4):329-38 [abstract]

• Roberts L, Ahmed I, Hall S, Davison A. 2009. Intercessory prayer for the alleviation of ill health. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. CD000368

Studies of intercessory prayer and heart disease:

• Byrd RC. 1988. Positive therapeutic effects of intercessory prayer in a coronary care unit population. South Med J. 81(7):826-9 [abstract]

• Harris WS, Gowda M, Kolb JW, Strychacz CP, Vacek JL, et al. 1999. A randomized, controlled trial of the effects of remote, intercessory prayer on outcomes in patients admitted to the coronary care unit. Arch Intern Med. 159(19):2273-8

• Aviles JM, Whelan SE, Hernke DA, Williams BA, Kenny KE, et al. 2001. Intercessory prayer and cardiovascular disease progression in a coronary care unit population: a randomized controlled trial. Mayo Clin Proc. 76(12):1192-8 [abstract]

• Krucoff MW, Crater SW, Gallup D, Blankenship JC, Cuffe M, et al. 2005. Music, imagery, touch, and prayer as adjuncts to interventional cardiac care: the Monitoring and Actualisation of Noetic Trainings (MANTRA) II randomised study. Lancet. 366(9481):211-7 [abstract]

• Benson H, Dusek JA, Sherwood JB, Lam P, Bethea CF et al. 2006. 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. Am Heart J. 151(4):934-42 [abstract]

Other:

Astin JA, Stone J, Abrams DI, Moore DH, Couey P et al. 2006. The efficacy of distant healing for human immunodeficiency virus--results of a randomized trial. Altern Ther Health Med. 12(6):36-41 [abstract]

Study of Cha et al. on prayer and in vitro fertilization (original paper and two critiques):

• Cha KY, Wirth DP. 2001. Does prayer influence the success of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer? Report of a masked, randomized trial. J Reprod Med. 46(9):781-7 [abstract]

• Flamm B. 2004. The Columbia University "miracle" study: flawed and fraud. Skeptical Inquirer. 28(5):25-31

• Flamm B. 2005. The bizarre Columbia University "miracle" saga continues. Skeptical Inquirer. 29(2):52-3

Chibnall JT, Jeral JM, Cerullo MA. 2001. Experiments on distant intercessory prayer: God, science, and the lesson of Massah. Arch Intern Med. 161(21):2529-36 [abstract]

Weissmann G. 2006. NIH funding: not a prayer. FASEB J. 20(9):1278-80

Ernst E. 2006. Spiritual healing: more than meets the eye. J Pain Symptom Manage. 32(5):393-5

Gaudia G. 2007. About intercessory prayer: the scientific study of miracles. MedGenMed. 9(1):56

Ernst E. 2017 Jan 4. Prayer as a medical therapy? Time to stop this nonsense! Edzard Ernst

Bolton B. 2018/9. Have Christians accepted the scientific conclusion that God does not answer intercessory prayer? Free Inquiry. 39(1):20-5

Ernst E. 2019 Nov 18. Prayer as therapy: a new randomised study. Edzard Ernst

Ernst E. 2020 Feb 1. Does religiosity influence post-operative survival? Edzard Ernst