truthlover writes:
"... mortality risk varies substantially by religious affiliation,
I have been aware of that association for some time. Seventh-day Adventists are quite enamored of their fame in this regard. Personally, however, having been raised Seventh-day Adventist, groomed for the ministry, and subsequently (long story short) a self proclaimed atheist - I have a rather different take on the facts of this matter. For me, freedom of thought is an important aspect of existence without which there can be no
quality of life. For me, affiliation with the SDA church precluded the 'liberty' which that institution promises in such glowing terms. And they are not alone in hawking a purported
new lease on life. I must therefore issue my rather insensitive but deadly serious, and not unrelated, observation:
People on drugs, people on life support, and people who engage in low risk occupations tend to live longer than those who daily risk their lives and avoid or cannot obtain good medical care.
That said, I wish to comment on the question of prayer.
Do you think it's true that the outcomes of trials of prayer cannot be interpreted as 'proof/disproof' of God's response to those praying, but could only show an effect of prayer not dependent on divine intervention? If so, why?
Prayer works equally well for persons who do not believe in God. Thus, the outcome of those trials can neither prove nor disprove the existence or intervention of a deity.
Do you think prayer studies or health outcome studies can validly determine the effect of prayer?
I imagine they might if one could quantify and/or qualify exactly that which constitues prayer to such a degree that one could distinguish between test subjects who know how to pray and those who do not. If we were to attempt this as a scientific experiment we would need a definition of prayer which sees beyond linguistic and sectarian considerations to focus on the universally human factors involved in prayer, i.e. what is actually happening, neurologically, in the brain. We would have to come up with a definition of prayer which applies equally to Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Pagan, and Atheist formats of 'spiritual' petition.
Do you think they should have any applicability to choice of lifestyles?
Are you asking whether study subjects should be grouped according to "choice of lifesyle"? Why would one do that? To enrich the success of a group one expects to pray more effectively? Or are you asking if the outcome of the experiment might influence one's decision regarding whether or not to affiliate himself with an organized religion? If that is what you mean, then I would recommend you don't count these chickens until they are hatched.
Theology is the science of Dominion.- - - My God is your god's Boss - - -