“Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist prayer groups were assigned to pray for 371 of the patients. The rest had no prayer group.”
I’d be curious to know it the patients knew if they were being “prayed for” or not. Depending on the patient’s beliefs, that could have had or not had a psychological impact on recovery.
I would guess that the patients probably knew they were in a study (I thnk it would be unethical not to tell them) but would probably not be told which group they were in to avoid confounding psych effects. However, since the outcome showed no difference between the prayed-for and the rest, whether or not there was a psych effect doesn’t seem relevant.
As long as religions try to poach on scientific turf they are inviting such examinations. Of course, nothing will ever convince Pat Robertson’s followers that their prayers did not divert Hurricane Gloria back in the 80’s, but making them look foolish to outsiders is not a bad thing.
Roger
A placebo prayer. I love it. 
Hey, speaking of Pat Robertson, I saw a cordial but strange (to me) interview between him and Bob Geldorf, the Boomtown Rats Live Aid guy. This was prior to the actual concerts. They were all smiles and Pat was ultra-complimentary to him for doing “God’s work” at Live Aid. Geldorf, in turn, invited Pat to one of the concerts, providing a moment of cognitive dissonance amidst a larger context of the same.
Here ya go. (I also posted this in the political/religious uber-thread.)
The Agnostic’s Prayer
(Roger Zelazny, > Creatures of Light and Darkness> , © 1969)Insofar as I may be heard by anything, which may or may not care what I say, I ask, if it matters, that you be forgiven for anything you may have done or failed to do which requires forgiveness. Conversely, if not forgiveness but something else may be required to insure any possible benefit for which you may be eligible after the destruction of your body, I ask that this, whatever it may be, be granted or withheld, as the case may be, in such a manner as to insure your receiving said benefit. I ask this in my capacity as your elected intermediary between yourself and that which may not be yourself, but which may have an interest in the matter of your receiving as much as it is possible for you to receive of this thing, and which may in some way be influenced by this ceremony. Amen.
Ah, Zelazny. He coulda been one of the greatest.
The opening paragraph of The doors of his face, the lamps of his mouth was the finest short story beginning in all of science fiction, until Bill Gibson’s vivid “The sky was the colour of a television set tuned between stations..” which begins either the story Burning Chrome or another story in the collection by the same name.
Creatures of light.., Lord of Light and the stories Zelazny published during the sixties are some of the best-written SF ever published, IMO.
Does that mean that you didn’t care for Donnerjack?
I’m not a fan of Zelazny’s stuff from later in his life, but I’d still say he was one of the best ever. I think the Amber books, or at least the earlier ones, were incredibly creative, as were most of his earlier novels and stories. A rose for Ecclesiastes remains one of my favorite SF stories.
The thing that set Zelazny apart from most other SF writers was his use of language. His degrees were in literature, although his undergrad was from Case-Western, a tech university. It’s just so refreshing to read SF written by someone who concentrated so much on his writing.
Donnerjack had bag pipes…
…oh, and the internet
I seem to recall Zelazny and Phillip K. Dick conspired to do a book based on their shared passion for Wagner and the Ring Cycle…
Was a long time ago since I was reading this stuff 
Slan,
D.
Zelazny & Dick… 'wish that had panned out.
“Zelazany collaborated with Philip K. Dick in Deus Irae (1976) - Dick could not finish the novel himself.”
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/zelazny.htm
Close enough…
Slan,
D. 
I wonder if that is where I found Zelazany… 
that was a hell of a time to hit 666.
Have Faith
Slan,
D.
Deus Irae wasn’t a good book, unfortunately. His collaboration with Fred Saberhagen (Coils) was better, and its themes of a new, aware entity coming to life in the midst of a compuyter network foreshadowed all of cyberpunk except the snarl.
~~
I also enjoyed the early Amber novels, but even they were a step down from the huge creative virtuousity on display in Lord of Light and Creatures of Light and darkness. Lord of Light, for instance, was written as an exercise in narrative structure. Only a few years into his career, Zelazny was at the pinnacle of his creative powers.
The Amber books were way more straightforward, and it’s unfortunate that their success ruined him as a writer: He spent the next few decades writing to the formula he set with Nine Princes in Amber.
yep…and I don’t care for Sabehagen that much.
I think that phenomena happens to many artists. They were much better when they were hungry. On the other side, how many take a straight job to eat and we never get to hear of them at all?