Reply to I am an atheist, ask me anything.

Forum Index » Religion

Reply to "I am an atheist, ask me anything. "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=FruminousBandersnatch][quote=Anonymous]It was actually a triple blind study....

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2802370/

I think NIH is pretty credible... Or should I say not "no good"[/quote]

I love the "questions raised" section of the NIH study:

[quote]We present some of the unsettling questions that arise in these contexts; the questions are unsettling because they invite comparison with human parallels that devalue the concept of God, something that those who pray surely would not have considered.

1. If the number, duration and frequency of prayer are important or if the number of persons praying is important, does God, like a businessman, market boons based on the currency value of the prayers? Or, will God pay attention only if those who pray are sufficiently bothersome?

2. If the type of prayer is important, is God a bureaucrat who is more likely to consider petitions that appear in the prescribed forms?

3. If the addition of vows and sacrifices is important, is God somebody who can be flattered or bribed into granting a boon?

4. If the level of fervency or intensity is important, does God distinguish between “please”, “pretty please” and “pretty please with ribbons on it”?

5. If the practical content of and petitions in the prayer are important, how does God make decisions about what is and what is not a reasonable request?

6. If the faith or conviction of the persons who pray is important, does God value the beliefs of the petitioners more than the merits of the petitions?

7. If the personal characteristics and qualities of the persons who pray (or the persons who are being prayed for) are important, are some people more equal before God than other people? Religions portray God as being compassionate; what sort of compassion is displayed by the selective favoring of an experimental over a control group?

8. If the entity to which the prayer is directed is important, do different Gods have different portfolios? Are some Gods more approachable? Do some Gods ignore some prayers? If the religious affiliation of the person who prays is important, what becomes of the other religions of the world and those who follow such religions; will their prayers remain unanswered?

9. If the magnitude of response to the petitions is total, then all prayers should result in miraculous or near-miraculous benefits. This, clearly, almost never happens. Thus, does God work on percentages; that is, if the petition is for an elephant, does he sanction a mouse? Or, are his responses only subtle ones? If so, how does he choose on the outcome measure to improve?[/quote]
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics