This came through my Twitter feed yesterday and I couldn’t resist opening it, like a moth to a flame. It seems that a group of British Christian MPs are going to try to overturn a ban on adverts promoting the healing power of prayer.
The football player Fabrice Muamba has begun to make a recovery after his collapse last week and these MPs have decided that as he was the recipient of many prayers and good wishes, this means that prayer works. Oh, really? So in their opinions, does this have nothing to do with the prompt actions of the medical staff from both team and the expensive professional medical care he received afterwards?
They then challenge the UK Advertising Standards Authority as follows:
We write to express our concern at this decision and to enquire about the basis on which it has been made. It appears to cut across two thousand years of Christian tradition and the very clear teaching in the Bible. Many of us have seen and experienced physical healing ourselves in our own families and churches and wonder why you have decided that this is not possible.
On what scientific research or empirical evidence have you based this decision?
Let me be clear, having looked at the ASA judgement itself, their position seems to be that there is no evidence in support of the claims of healing. These MPs have got the cart firmly before the horse here. As the ones making the claims of divine healing, the responsibility is with the advertiser and themselves to provide the empirical evidence of such healing, it does not lie with the ASA.
There have been studies conducted into the healing power of prayer, some even funded by religious groups. These studies drew a blank, no scientific evidence has yet been found to conclude that prayer has any healing power whatever. Oddly, some patients got worse, which was put down to a form of performance anxiety on their part. I think that in light of this, the most reasonable conclusion at this time is that the healing power of prayer has no supporting evidence and is unproven.
