5 Scientifically Supported Benefits of Prayer
According to a 2013 Pew Research Poll, over half of Americans pray every day. A 2012 poll found that over 75 percent of Americans believe that prayer is an important part of daily life. Other polls indicate that even some atheists and religiously unaffiliated individuals admit that they sometimes pray.
Our species has probably been praying for as long as we have been able to contemplate our existence. And though we may never be able to establish evidence that a deity or spiritual force actually hears our prayers, in recent years, scientists have begun to consider the potential tangible (i.e., measurable) effects of prayer. And this research suggests that prayer may be very beneficial.
So here are five scientifically-supported benefits of prayer:
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Scientists and public intellectuals who are critical of religion, focus on what they believe to be the irrationality of religious belief. Why waste time believing in things that have no supporting scientific evidence?
These critics typically fail to consider the fact that scientific studies are finding measureable benefits of religious faith. As I have discussed here and here , religion is complicated. It can be both good and bad for your health depending on a number of variables.
However, there is a growing body of evidence indicating that prayer, a behavior often associated with religion, can be beneficial for individuals and society
Does that mean that my saying or writing "Oh my God" (or the acronym OMG), or in the event of facing a bad situation, saying "God help me" mean i am praying? If so, I guess I could be said to pray every day.
Now that I think about it, I'm also known to say "God give me strength" on occasion, and even "God damn it!" now and then. I never thought I was that religious.
It doesn't matter who or what you pray to, the act itself is beneficial to a persons psychological well being.
you are wise
That didn't work out too good for those that saw Jim Jones as a God.
When a village gets buried in a mudslide, the majority of villagers won't be able to tell you about how badly their prayers failed - because they were uttered with their last dying gasps.
Aeon didn't say prayer would perform physical miracles or bend the laws of nature, she said it helps people feel better and cope with their problems.
I don't know why you always have to fight reality about this. About 85-90% of Americans believe in God, even after decades of aggressive atheism. I think belief is here to stay.
Faith and Religion has always had charlatans and abusers.
So it does matter who or what you pray to.
If that's want you want to believe, then so be it. As I see it, humans can pervert and contaminate anything that appears good. History bears that out.
If you click the link, the best advice you get about prayer is the first thing you see - Find a Therapist.
For only $14.95 we can all purchase a total gym and Chuck Norris says it will make us all feel better.
Prayer is simply a reinforcement exercise of behavioral mind control. It's been used very successfully in getting people to murder, rape, suppress, oppress, molest, and confess.
Prayer makes you a monster?
This sounds like a testimonial. What did it make you do?
You sound a little extreme there PJ.
I pray every morning, 7 days a week, in a quorum. To the best of my knowledge, none of us is or has been convicted of any of the crimes you have listed.
However, among the weekday regulars, you can count 8 doctors, an attorney, a bicycle shop owner, a print shop owner, 2 executive recruiters, 3 RNs, a teacher, a pharmacist, a grocer, 2 auto repairmen and a few people who work in retail.
Your comment embodies willful ignorance.
In the Sudan, believers pray to God for water. Usually the prayers go unanswered, and parents are forced to leave their dehydrated children to die on the side of the dirt road while they continue on in search of water and food. You and your pals must be doing something right for God to treat you so much better.
We also learn that G-d answers all our prayers, with "NO" being the answer most of the time.
The application of logic plays a great role in incorporating faith into life in general.
The problem with your example is that no one has ever explained to the people of Sudan that they live in a desert.
I'm pretty sure that they are keenly aware that they live in a desert. Your problem is that you believe that in the minority of the time God actually says 'yes', rather than the obvious explanation that sometimes things just go your way. Listening to you, one would think that there's a God who has a reason to enable an American to get a loan to start a bicycle shop, and also has a reason to deny a dying Sudanese child some water.
By definition God is a "supernatural" entity, beyond our ability to discern it's purposes. The various religions attempt to figure God out, but it is really not something they can actually do.
Occasionally people feel close to God, which we know as mystical or spiritual experience.
Trotting out the get-out-of-jail-free card again? Supernatural - how convenient for religionists. Too bad you all are dictated to by doctrines with fantastical stories where Mr. Supernatural showed up in person all the time. I guess that got old, so He went into eternal hiding.
What does your praying have to do with anything? Are you claiming that wars have not been started purposefully because of religion? Are you claiming that children have not been raped and molested by priests and other religion fanatics? Are you claiming that some religions don't suppress women? Are you claiming that some religions don't oppress populations?
No JP, your turning a blind eye is willful ignorance. My comment is reality and fact. Does it happen all the time, no, but it happens enough that you should at minimum acknowledge it rather than riddle off someone's credentials and tell me I should accept that they are good people simply because of their profession.
I missed you bestie!
Typical of both of you to ignore the central thesis of my very, very short post.
Here, let me retype it for you. I'll even go block quote, so as not to add to your confusion:
The application of logic plays a great role in incorporating faith into life in general.
Logic? My turn to repeat:
Listening to you, one would think that there's a God who has a reason to enable an American to get a loan to start a bicycle shop, and also has a reason to deny a dying Sudanese child some water.
The worth of prayer doesn't depend on your opinion of it. It depends on the opinion of the one who prays.
... and the person's definition of 'prayer'. As I said above, atheists and religionists say much the same things in their heads - religionists just preface it with "dear God" for some bizarre reason.
PJ, the fact that some religious authorities misuse their position has no bearing on whether or not prayer is a good thing for many people. Think about it.
"Your comment embodies willful ignorance."
I thought the word "willful" meant intended. In this case I would omit the word "willful".
I: can see how prayer can have great benefit-- in fact, this can be true whether of not a God actually exists.