Some people believe that prayer gives them the ability to speak directly to a god or some sort of spiritual force. In addition they hold the view that such an action can be used to influence the outcome of events, specifically healing the sick, and most churches will pray for members of the church who are sick. Of course, such beliefs are utterly ridiculous, but what harm can come from them? If people want to pray for others then why should we care? The answer is simple, prayer is far from harmless. It fosters a set of misguided ideas and in some cases can lead to the death of other people.

Perhaps that all sounded a bit harsh. How can prayer lead to the death of people, particularly if it doesn't actually do anything? At times by not acting you can do more harm than through taking a chance with your actions. A South African newspaper, the 'Cape Times', reported on 3 August 2009 about a case that occurred earlier in the year in the United States. An 11-year-old girl died of undiagnosed diabetes, without ever getting medical treatment. In fact she died,unable to walk, talk, eat or drink, at home surrounded by people who were praying! Her parents were both charged with second-degree reckless homicide, and her father was convicted on 23 March 2009. They face 25 years in jail each. Why didn't the girl receive medical treatment? Her father believed that god would heal her, as he promises in the Bible, and that going to a doctor he would be putting the doctor before god.

In 2005 an aeroplane crashed off the coast of Sicily, resulting in the deaths of 16 people. While the crash was partly due to a faulty fuel gauge, the problem was compounded when the pilot failed to follow emergency procedures and instead prayed out loud before crash landing in the Mediterranean Sea. The pilot was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in jail.

The medical benefits of prayer have indeed been tested and a brief summary on the results is given in the book 'Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial' by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst. They relate how it is well known that prayer does indeed benefit patients, when they are aware of it. That's easy to explain as a simple psychological pick-me-up that occurs when you know people are thinking of and supporting you. Is there more to that though? If prayer actually has some ability to heal people then it shouldn't matter if they know that someone is praying for them or not.

Indeed a study in 2001 found that prayer has a significant effect in patients who are unaware that they are being prayed for. However it later was revealed that the most prominent author of the research did not participate and was merely an editor and he has subsequently removed his name from the research and doesn't support it. The second author stands by the research, but pleaded guilty to criminal fraud in 2004, so lacks credibility. Only the third author is credible and supports the paper.

Three other papers investigating the effect of prayer are also mentioned in the book, one in 2001 involving 799 patients, one in 2005 with 329 patients and one in 2006 which followed over 1000 patients. All three of them found prayer to be ineffective.

Medical research is clear on this point, prayer does not show benefits, other than the psychological effect, which would be obtained whether you actually prayed for the person or not. In fact lying to the patient about praying and if you actual pray for them or not are just as morally deplorable. Prayer is a useless waste of time and effort and could have serious consequences when people choose prayer over science. Praying is as irresponsible as if you saw a fire breaking out in a building, stood next the extinguisher and tried to douse the flames with psychic power.