Pseudoscience Dictionary: Prayer

Pseudoscience: Consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that are claimed to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method (unproven, not testable, or opposed to the consensus of traditional science).

Prayer

Definition: Prayer is a religious or spiritual practice involving communication with a deity or higher power through requests, expressions of gratitude, worship, or contemplation. A particular form, known as intercessory prayer, involves praying for another person’s health, safety, or well-being. Some believers claim that prayer can produce supernatural intervention, cure illnesses, prevent accidents, influence external events, or change outcomes that would otherwise occur. Although prayer is an important religious practice for billions of people, no scientific evidence has shown that it can directly alter physical events or medical outcomes through supernatural intervention.

Reasoning: Controlled scientific studies have not demonstrated that prayer can reliably change medical outcomes or produce measurable supernatural effects. A 2006 randomized study published in the American Heart Journal examined 1,802 patients undergoing coronary bypass surgery. Researchers found that patients who received intercessory prayer experienced complications at essentially the same rate as those who did not (52% versus 51%). Interestingly, patients who knew they were being prayed for experienced a higher complication rate of 59%, although the study did not establish why this occurred. Further, a 2006 meta-analysis of 14 studies found no statistically significant overall effect of distant intercessory prayer. Similarly, a 2009 Cochrane systematic review analyzing 10 randomized trials involving 7,646 participants found no clear evidence that intercessory prayer reduced mortality, improved clinical outcomes, or prevented hospitalization. Another 2005 study published in The Lancet found that prayer did not significantly improve outcomes among patients undergoing cardiac procedures. However, the National Cancer Institute acknowledges that religious and spiritual practices may provide psychological comfort, emotional support, and improved coping for some patients. Such personal benefits do not demonstrate that prayer can directly cure disease or alter external events. While science cannot conclusively disprove every proposed supernatural intervention, repeated controlled studies have failed to establish that prayer produces measurable effects beyond ordinary psychological or behavioral influences.

More Information

• Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) – American Heart Journal
• Intercessory Prayer for the Alleviation of Ill Health – Cochrane Systematic Review
• Are There Demonstrable Effects of Distant Intercessory Prayer? A Meta-Analytic Review
• Music, Imagery, Touch, and Prayer as Adjuncts to Interventional Cardiac Care – The Lancet
• Spirituality in Cancer Care – National Cancer Institute

Conclusion: Prayer is a religious and spiritual practice, but claims that it can directly change external events, cure illnesses, or influence medical outcomes through supernatural intervention lack credible scientific evidence. Multiple controlled studies and systematic reviews have failed to show that intercessory prayer reliably affects health outcomes. Although prayer may provide psychological comfort, emotional support, and a sense of well-being, no scientifically established evidence shows that it independently changes physical outcomes. Claims that prayer produces measurable supernatural results are therefore unsupported by scientific research.