Growing evidence shows: Prayer works

Written by Joe Pisani
Tuesday, 17 August 2010 23:00

As I wandered to the back of the train in search of air conditioning, I came upon an Orthodox Jewish fellow saying his prayers. I figured that was a good sign, so I sat down near him for my trip into the city. Some commuters, however, looked at him a little suspiciously and kept their distance.

Prayer in public makes us uneasy, and it has become an increasingly contentious issue — from those subversive prayers at graduations and high school football games to the rosaries that pro-lifers say outside abortion clinics; not to mention the contretemps over a court ruling that claimed the National Day of Prayer in America, which begun when Truman was President, is unlawful.

Despite all the brouhaha, more than half of Americans pray at least once a day, according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, and many of them believe their prayers are regularly answered.

I usually pray when I’m troubled over a family crisis or have to go for my annual physical. Most of us resort to prayer when we’re desperate, and a bad diagnosis always brings us to our knees.

A friend of mine sends out an e-mail prayer list that grows longer every day with petitions from people who have cancer and heart ailments and marital problems and family troubles.

A growing number of researchers see evidence that prayer works, and a study by an Indiana University professor concluded that “proximal intercessory prayer” — people praying for someone in their presence — has a beneficial effect. During the study in Mozambique, alleged healings occurred in those who were visually or hearing impaired.

There are many people, of course, who weren’t brought up to pray and don’t believe their requests will be heard. Their parents scoffed at the “unenlightened” practice, so they never developed the habit. As a result, their children are often adrift in an insane world with no sense that a Higher Power can guide and help them if they ask.

The thing about prayer is you don’t necessarily get what you want, but you get what you need. After years of pleading, my prayer to win the lottery hasn’t been answered, and I’m still waiting for a miraculous cure for male pattern baldness. And even though I pray every day for my four daughters, our family has more crises than those crazy Kardashians.

Prayer, I hate to admit, won’t make me a rich person, a handsome person or a famous person, but it can make me a better person and a happier person through mysterious forces that are beyond the grasp of our feeble intellects.

Through personal experience, I’ve come to believe the prayers that are most often answered are the unselfish ones for other people.

When I see how messed up the world is, I realize we have to pray more for one another and for our country, and then maybe then things will start to get better. I’m convinced that fellow on the train can’t do it all by himself.

Joe Pisani can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Find out why buy cialis , and much more. Online pharmacy, buy viagra , low prices.