hello, i am from texas, i am 25 years old, i like LA Club, watching movies
Welcome. Always interested in the 20 something perspective
Welcome
Hello, My user name for FI is DeWolfe (old family name)
I am a professor of epidemiology at the Dept. of Tropical Medicine at the medical school, University of Hawaii and a Fellow in the American College of Epidemiology.
As an epidemiologist I have to be interested in causation based on scientific evidence and scientific methodology.
I have been a subscriber to FI off and on for years. Actually I do not think inquiry should be free but rather based on a measure of scientific protocol, logic, rational discourse, verifiable evidence, etc.
The lead article in this issue: Have Christians Accepted the Scientific Conclusion That God Does Not Answer Intercessory Prayer?
is an article in which randomized clinical trials (RCT) where used to demonstrate that prayer does not work.
Putting aside that RCT can be very difficult to design and even then can have flaws, this was a bit of over kill.
There is no need to misapply the use of RCT to “test” that prayer works or that God does not exist. The IRB (Institutional Review Boards) where these studies were done, should have rejected the study protocols outright. Note that some IRB will have members from the community which may include some religious leader. An RCT has to include at least one group “treatment” and another “placebo”. Treatment has to be something that can be measured. Prayer can’t. Or maybe someone will come up with another RCT that uses More Prayer as the other trials failed because those praying were not qualified or simply did not pray enough.
I hope that the readers will find the article interesting.
One if not the big issue with FI is the issue of secular humanism. Its not that I have anything against SH its just that FI does not equal SH. They are two different things.
So season’s greetings everyone.
DeWolfe
Welcome DeWolfe, great User ID. Interesting topic. I’d say it’s ready for the “Religion and Secularism” section. I’m not sure where you’re going with this. It seems testing prayer is a challenge, since you could always claim the prayers weren’t done correctly, not measurable as you say. But I’m not sure how else you could about testing them.
Hello, I am from India. My user name: prasadarao
I am a retired Professor in Civil Engineering, JNTU, Hyderabad. My interests are in peace, harmony and unity in diversity. I look for rational approach in religions instead of blind beliefs. Each one of us has his own belief. One can’t negate another’s belief based on his belief but can only be done based on scientific or rational approach.
Seasons greetings for everyone.