In 2001, the Journal of Reproductive Medicine published a study that purported to demonstrate the power of prayer to help women conceive children. It was a bombshell that made the rounds in all media outlets. It may also have been a fraud - the results have never been replicated and problems abound in the study itself.

The Mercury News reports:

[C]ritics are calling it all a sham, a black eye to the research community and proof that medical studies aren't always what they appear to be. Many in the medical field are saying that the only miracle about the study is that it was published to begin with. They wonder if the research was ever conducted at all. As the controversy rages, the Bay Area researcher is en route to a California prison camp on an unrelated fraud conviction. The second scientist recently took his name off the study. The third quietly left Columbia. The government conducted its own investigation and determined the study violated federal research guidelines.

Typically, scientists conduct their research, write their findings up and submit them to multiple medical journals in hopes one will publish them. Each journal has its own review system, sending submitted studies out to experts in the field who check for accuracy and statistical soundness. But those experts rarely try to replicate the results themselves before publication.

Prayer is supposed to be a matter of faith, at least in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim contexts. If it could be scientifically proven that prayer actually does something substantive, then it wouldn’t be a matter of faith anymore. This would suggest that genuine believers in the power of prayer wouldn't believe that that power would be provable scientifically and would reject such studies without a second thought.

The fact that believers don't generally do this and so many are eager to use these studies to defend their religious doctrines suggests that in reality they don't have genuine faith in the power of prayer. They believe it, but their belief is weak enough that they would like it to be bolstered by allegedly scientific studies. Even if the studies are disputed and eventually refuted, that won't stop believers from continuing to rely upon them. Despite wanting to be able to rely on scientific evidence, they don't accept scientific principles and procedures enough to adhere to them when it is inconvenient.

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