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Monday, April 07, 2008

Prayer can be powerful

April 6, 2008

Prayer can be powerful

By Amy Olson
Wausau Daily Herald

Though a belief in the power of prayer is central to many Christian denominations and other faiths, the healing it offers might have a greater effect on spiritual wounds than physical ailments.

Eleven-year-old Kara Neumann died March 23 of complications from untreated diabetes after her parents chose to pray for recovery at their town of Weston home rather than seek medical treatment.

Mike Neill, a chaplain at Aspirus Wausau Hospital, said he'd never personally encountered a family who chose prayer as a treatment over medical care.

Neill said he believes in prayer's power, noting it has benefits "even at times when we don't see healing" quickly or in the ways we seek. For many people, however, it can help them come to terms with what's happened and give them comfort. It also enables them to turn over what they can't control to God and helps them know God is with them.

"We are holistic beings," Neill said, and a person's emotional, physical and spiritual make-up are intertwined.

Research suggests many people pray and use other spiritual practices for healing. Forty-five percent of 31,000 people surveyed in 2004 used prayer for health reasons, according to research conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics and the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine. Almost one quarter reported having others pray for them.

"There is already some preliminary evidence for a connection between prayer and related practices and health outcomes. For example, we've seen some evidence that religious affiliation and religious practices are associated with health and mortality -- in other words, with better health and longer life," wrote Catherine Stoney, program officer at the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine.

Still, researchers cannot determine cause and effect.

Studies suggest prayer seeking intervention -- called intercessory prayer -- has no effect as a treatment, said Dr. Steven Miles, professor at the University of Minnesota's Center for Bioethics.

A study of almost 800 people published in 2001 by Mayo Clinic researchers found patients with heart conditions who were prayed for fared no better than those who were not. A 2006 study by Harvard Medical School researchers of about 1,200 heart bypass surgery patients found those who were prayed for had similar rates of complications within a month of their operations to those for whom no prayers were offered.

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