Maybe. Depends. The big "if". And other less-than-helpful stuff.
The anti-Dossey diatribe at
Skeptic's Notebook was quite amusing. Distant healing is an intriguing phenomenon.
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IoNS Release, 14 December, 1998
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Dr. Elisabeth Targ's article for Noetic Sciences Review #49
For instance, the first thing that must happen scientifically is that an effect must be observed. One study, at least, has found a statistical correlation, but there is as yet no definitively-observed effect of prayer for healing ("distant healing") that can be regularly quantified.
Nonetheless, that effect must be established before the nature of the effect can be explored. It will be an interesting ride.
But as to the topic:
What happens when the same number of people pray for something as pray against it? How does God decide whose prayer to answer?
Here I would assert that the error at hand is a simple one: the presumption of God. Don't worry, it's a mistake most people make.
Many of the New Age movement hoped that quantum mechanics would reveal the inner workings of old magicks and legendary sorceries. Alas, this is not yet the case. Nonetheless, many of the pagan-malaise recognize some notion of "vibrations", offered in more vulgar circles for the manifestation of will. Hence, it seems that many of the New Age hoped that quantum mechanics would show an aura, or provide a translation of how that will radiated as an energetic force.
The point is that not all prayer is aimed to God. In fact, for those that accept the assertion that people create gods, there is little or no difference between prayer and a spell, except of course the number of symbols between the adherent and the essence of what they seek.
Which leads back to the idea of prayer being a physical phenomenon in some way, the effects of which obviously have not been recorded and identified. As such:
Does the total number of people praying for or against something matter?
According to some schools of Buddhism, yes. There are prayer festivals and other such events of varying significance at which thousands of Buddhists gather in common meditation, reflection, and prayer. In such a manner, prayer is a discipline, not a supplication; it is a manner of focus and grounding.
How about the righteousness of the supplicants? Are positive prayers answered more frequently than negative ones?
The righteousness of the supplicants is a facet of their larger psychology, which is the factor most dramatically in play. A wrongly-focused desire, one that contrasts with the natural will of the individual, will still create its own psychological resonance, and that distraction--should prayer be a physical phenomenon--can be said to reduce the efficacy of prayer. Likewise, ill-focused prayer would invite the potential for unwanted results. One might pray for money or material wealth, but the classic example is to ask what happens if that prayer is answered when your uncle dies suddenly and leaves you money? (
cf. Kraig, D.M.
Modern Magick)
Are positive prayers answered more frequently than negative ones?
I doubt it. If prayer is a physical phenomenon, it would seem that the most prevalent trends in human conduct would achieve the greatest result.
Does God take the positive ones and Satan the negative?
Given the myriad faith structures within Christianity, I would say that the
possibility seems inherent.
Does the intensity of the praying have any effect
on the outcome?
If prayer is a physical phenomenon, yes. A friend of mine, a student of Tibetan Buddhism primarily, is prone to some rather dramatic rituals to aid his meditations.
Does the length of time one devotes to praying have any effect on the frequency with which one's prayers are answered?
I think that one depends on God. If prayer is a religious process, then it would seem that the more one devotes to God, the more one might come to expect. Yet in this as all things, God is somewhat mysterious on purpose.
Do the words and phrases used in the prayer --
either positive or negative -- have any bearing on the success
rate?
Not in the sense of having "magic words" to aid your endeavor. But as I expect that any "successful" demonstration of prayer will include a physical explanation to some degree, I would go so far as to speculate that the efficacy of given words will vary according to each individual.
Does the nature of the thing or things prayed for have any bearing on the prayer's success rate -- either positive or negative prayers?
If prayer is a physical phenomenon--
if, if, if . . .
(that's a big
if, isn't it?)
--then I think we would have to look to individual factors to determine the importance of such elements.
As a religious process, it would seem that the nature of things prayed for would have some bearing on God's judgment, but if we look at it in, say, the Christian sense, God already knows this prayer is coming and its outcome is already decided, and held to be good. So in that sense, the nature of the thing or things prayed for wouldn't have much bearing. In the more vulgar sense, though, it is commonly imagined that one should not pray ill toward anyone or anything. It would be pretty stupid to be begging God to strike down your enemy. Oh, wait ... well ... you see what it looks like in life, right? The idea being that you don't want to show God how evil a person you are, or something. But, again, in the Christian sense, God already knows.
Strangely, I have greater confidence in understanding prayer through its possible scientific quantifications (as infinitesimal and speculative as they might be) than I do in understanding prayer according to the various religions that actually pray.
Of course, I don't imagine this post is particularly helpful. You know, I never am, it seems.
thanx,
Tiassa