Letter: Healing experiment hasn't a prayer
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Your support makes all the difference.Sir: Three groups of patients are to be prayed for, or not, to "test" the healing power of prayer (report, 11 April).
A positive result will be hailed by theists as evidence that God exists, whilst a negative result will merely indicate to them that God did not wish to co-operate. The initial hypothesis is thus not susceptible to refutation. This farrago is not an experiment worthy of the name, and Professor Russell Stannard's standing as a scientist is seriously compromised. Have faith, by all means, but do not confuse it with science.
T P O'CONNOR
Department of Archaeological Sciences,
University of Bradford
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