31st Mar 2006
Intercessory Prayer
In Christian-lingo, Intercessory Prayer is when you pray on behalf of someone for divine intervention. This is often what people mean when they say, “I’ll pray for you,” when someone is going through a difficult time.
In the largest study of its kind, researchers have found that intercessory prayer played out less than positively in the field. In the Study: Praying Won’t Affect Heart Patients patients who knew they were being prayed for by strangers had a slightly higher risk of complications during heart surgery.
With any scientific study, there are a number of variables. Some might find the idea of prayer from strangers to be comforting (I mean, I’d prefer I knew the people who pray for me), but others might find it a bit freaky.
But this was very legitimate research, co-investigated by Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard, who is about as reputable in mind-body research as you can get. I’m actually re-reading his book Beyond the Relaxation Response now.
