A few days ago I came across an article at the Daily Wire entitled "MSNBC Guest Says It’s ‘Theological Malpractice’ To Pray In The Wake Of School Shooting." That guest was Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones, a Democrat (of course). His argument was that it was wrong to pray about something you could change (with greater gun control being the change he desired). The article goes on to observe that "[o]ther Democrats — from former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey — took a similar tone after the shooting, arguing that calls for prayer were empty without gun control measures." And then there was California Gov. Gavin Newsom (another Democrat) who also joined in with his mocking of the children who were praying at the time of the mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis this past week.
In a post on X, responding to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s claim that “prayer works,”, Newsom said: “There children were literally praying as they got shot at,” implying that prayer does not work.
Prayer may not act as a force field or a mechanism for granting wishes, but there is evidence that prayer is beneficial. The psychological and emotional benefits of prayer are recognized, with this 2019 article from Psychology Today, "Does Prayer Work?", explaining:
Research consistently shows that prayer can have numerous benefits. For example, prayer can be a solid source of self-soothing and self-comfort when one is experiencing pain, coping with loss, or dealing with traumatic circumstances. Prayer can also be of benefit as a form of concentrated mental motivation for achieving personal goals. Prayer can also help people focus on the well-being of others. And, of course, when one finds oneself in a hopeless or helpless situation, with no real options, no clear solution, and no actionable form of alleviation, then prayer is something to engage in to—at the very least—make one feel like one is doing at least something in the face of dire circumstances.
Clearly, people pray because it makes them feel better, or makes them feel hope, or makes them feel love, or makes them feel just a welcomed hair shy of being utterly powerless. So, concerning all of the above, it can be said that prayer works.
But when reviewing the scientific literature, it is less clear whether prayer offers physical or physiological benefits. But it may depend on to whom someone offers prayers. For instance, a 1999 paper published in the Archive of Internal Medicine found that praying for others could be beneficial for cardiac patients:
But a few scientists have taken a further step: They're trying to find out if you can help strangers by praying for them without their knowledge.
A recent, controversial study of cardiac patients conducted at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, concludes that this type of prayer -- known as intercessory prayer -- may indeed make a difference. "Prayer may be an effective adjunct to standard medical care," says cardiac researcher William Harris, Ph.D., who headed the St. Luke's study. The study was published in the October 25, 1999 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Harris and team examined the health outcomes of nearly 1,000 newly admitted heart patients at St. Luke's. The patients, who all had serious cardiac conditions, were randomly assigned to two groups. Half received daily prayer for four weeks from five volunteers who believed in God and in the healing power of prayer. The other half received no prayer in conjunction with the study.
The volunteers were all Christians. The participants were not told they were in a study. The people praying were given only the first names of their patients and never visited the hospital. They were instructed to pray for the patients daily "for a speedy recovery with no complications."
Using a lengthy list of events that could happen to cardiac patients -- such as chest pains, pneumonia, infection, and death -- Harris concluded that the group receiving prayers fared 11% better than the group that didn't, a number considered statistically significant.
A subsequent similar study conducted by Harvard of 1,802 cardiac patients seemed to reach a different conclusion--that intercessory prayer made no difference. But Lee Strobel & Mark Mittelberg write that there was a significant difference between the two studies:
It turns out the people doing the praying in that study [i.e., the Harvard study] were members of the so-called Unity School of Christianity in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. This is a sect that denies biblical teachings on the divinity of Jesus, sin and salvation, the Trinity, the Bible, and just about every other key Christian doctrine.
What’s more, Brown told me, “Unity leaders have long denied that prayer works miracles and have even called petitionary prayers ‘useless.’”
So this much-touted study, which seems to discredit the power of prayer, is actually a discredited study of what happens when people who don’t believe in prayer mouth “prayers” for others!
“In the end,” I asked, “does this study tell us anything that’s helpful?”
“Well,” Brown replied, “it is instructive on how not to conduct a study of Christian prayer.”
The Unity School volunteers weren't the only volunteers providing prayers, but I have my doubts about the other prayer participants as well. For instance, the Los Angeles times reported in relation to the Harvard study:
Sister Carol Rennie, prioress of St. Paul’s Monastery in St. Paul, Minn., whose prayer group participated in the study, said faith couldn’t be scientifically analyzed. “God must be smiling broadly,” she said. “It tells me, frankly, that God’s way of working with people is a mystery and that technology really can’t determine the effects of prayer.”
In addition, there were a cohort of the research subject that were told that people were praying for them, with the article noting: "In an unexpected twist, patients who knew prayers were being said for them had more complications after surgery than those who did not know, researchers reported Thursday," but adding that "[t]he complications were minor, and doctors surmised that they could have been caused by the increased stress on patients worried that their conditions were so bad they needed prayers."
So were the prayers by the children being shot at in Minnesota useless? A person who rejects the power of prayer will undoubtedly say "yes" pointing to the two deaths and 17 injured. But I would note that police recovered 116 rifle rounds and three shotgun shells from the scene. By comparison, police recovered 142 spent cartridges inside the Uvalde school and 22 outside, and the shooter killed 22 people. The Sandy Hook shooter fired 154 rounds killing 26 people. At the Parkland shooting, the shooter fired 139 rounds and killed 17 and injured 18 more. So compared to other shooting, the Catholic students that were praying suffered much lower casualty rates than comparable school shootings at secular schools. So were the prayers useless? I think not.
This is not to say that you should rely solely on prayers. "God helps those who help themselves" is a truism for a reason. But it seems that the prayers were at least somewhat efficacious given the difference between what happened at the Catholic school as compared to what happened to students in secular schools.
One of my long time readers emailed me about praying more generally. He wrote of the possibility that the prayers of the righteous might convince God to come to our aid notwithstanding the evils of our day. I think so. After all, God was willing to spare Sodom if only 10 righteous people could be found. The Bible Dictionary used by my church explains about prayer: "The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them." There are many things we can do to improve our lot in life, and prayer is a powerful act in that regard. So I would encourage you to pray for yourself, for your family and friends, and for your country.
Amen.
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