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[Josh Narins]

> Hidden in the report of the failure of prayer to
> actually help anyone is this nugget:
> 
> "The government has spent more than $2.3 million on
> prayer research since 2000."
> 
> Reminds of the 20+ year program the CIA had to
> research psychics, detailed by US News and World
> Report here:
> http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/articles/030127/27stargate.htm

All such research is entirely bogus. Like deities, I suppose, people
simply want to believe. The James Randi Educational Foundation is fine
resource, and includes updates on things like Kaballah Water (endorsed by
Representative Katherine Harris) and the state of the art in pure
buncombe.

http://www.randi.org/

There's also Jon Ronson's recent '04 book, which for all I know refers
to a non existent First Earth Battalion in the DoD.

http://www.jonronson.com/goats_04.html


> Like Ambrose Bierce said in the Devil's Dictionary: 
> "Pray, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be
> annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly
> unworthy."
> 
> -B.
> 
> Jim Devine wrote:
> 
> "From the Washington POST's on-line SLATE new summary:
> The NY [TIMES] fronts and the [Washington POST] and LA
> [TIMES] go inside with a study finding that prayer
> doesn't materially affect the rate of healing in sick
> people. In fact, those people who were told they were
> being prayed for actually got worse. Next on the
> agenda: examining the truth behind the contention that
> the family that prays together stays together."
> 
> 
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