Can Prayers Heal? Critics Say Studies Go Past Science's Reach

Can Prayers Heal? Critics Say Studies Go Past Science's Reach
"Can Prayers Heal? Critics Say Studies Go Past Science's Reach

By Benedict Carey, The New York Times

In 2001, two researchers and a Columbia University fertility expert published a startling finding in a respected medical journal: women undergoing fertility treatment who had been prayed for by Christian groups were twice as likely to have a successful pregnancy as those who had not.

Three years later, after one of the researchers pleaded guilty to conspiracy in an unrelated business fraud, Columbia is investigating the study and the journal reportedly pulled the paper from its Web site.

No evidence of manipulation has yet surfaced, and the study's authors stand behind their data.

But the doubts about the study have added to the debate over a deeply controversial area of research: whether prayer can heal illness."

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