Pray for . . .

I recently got linked on face book for "everyone who gets this" to pray for a kid with a tumor. Now I feel bad for all kids with tumors. Hell I feel bad for kids with skinned knees. But . . .

After numerous research projects to try to do controlled experiments on the effectiveness of prayer the results are what you'd expect. No real measurable effect. Sometimes there is a positive effect. Sometimes negative. Tests have been done where the subject being prayed for knew they were being prayed for  and sometimes not. Strangely the ones who knew tended to do a little worse than those who didn't. But no matter, there is not real measurable effect.

More importantly if there was an effect why wouldn't it be 100%? If it works it works. If you're being ignored you're being ignored. but the mish mash of results coincides with prayer being completely disconnected from reality. Some people are going to do a little better and some a little worse in the normal course of events. When you try to match this up with people praying or not of course at times you're going to get a positive correlation and sometimes negative. Of course. You're matching up things that are completely disconnected. It's like trying to make a connection between people dying in car crashes and stock market change that day. You'll find a positive correlation some days. . . .some days not.

And ALL of this speaks to my big drum. What would the world look like if there were no god? Would some good things and some bad things happen every day? Of course. It's a big world and that's how things would naturally go statistically. So to any of my remaining thiest friends: Where do you see god?

And no fair waxing metaphorically! Give me something I can sink my teeth into . . .not a freaking communion wafer!