Laurens
New Member
I occasionally post on a Buddhist message board, though I do not call myself a Buddhist any longer or practice in any way - I like to hang out there sometimes as I do have a respect for the Buddhist philosophy. Anyway that's beside the point.
Recently someone posted a topic asking what prayers they should do for their father who is in hospital. I respectfully pointed out that there is no evidence that prayer works and that perhaps one could help in other ways. The response I got was a link to the following article.
http://www.emaxhealth.com/26/2585.html
I stated in a response that I feel the article does nothing to prove it was actually prayer that helped the patients and it may have easily been due to other circumstances, such as the breathing and relaxation methods taught to some of the subjects. And also pointed out that recovery from heart surgery is a relatively un-miraculous event anyway. However I would like to address the issue further as there is many people advising that she should sit chanting Pali non-sense - and to me this is not very Buddhist or compassionate advice.
Recently someone posted a topic asking what prayers they should do for their father who is in hospital. I respectfully pointed out that there is no evidence that prayer works and that perhaps one could help in other ways. The response I got was a link to the following article.
http://www.emaxhealth.com/26/2585.html
I stated in a response that I feel the article does nothing to prove it was actually prayer that helped the patients and it may have easily been due to other circumstances, such as the breathing and relaxation methods taught to some of the subjects. And also pointed out that recovery from heart surgery is a relatively un-miraculous event anyway. However I would like to address the issue further as there is many people advising that she should sit chanting Pali non-sense - and to me this is not very Buddhist or compassionate advice.