Get a coin, and flip it 100 times. Record each time it lands on heads/tails.
Now get a devout believer, and have the believer continuously say devout prayers petitioning God to make the coin read heads. Then, flip the coin 100 times, and record heads/tails.
Do statistical analysis to see whether there is a statistically significant difference between the control group and the prayer group. Pretty easy to verify if true.
That line of thinking led to the “docudrama” ‘What the bleep do we know?’ and the extended version “What the bleep, further down the rabbit hole.” Both of which can appear to be rational to most laymen, but are basically religious BS forced on a quantum physics foundation.
I’m completely on board with that, except for the “wish fulfillment”. I don’t know how it got twisted around that you could presume to tell God what to do or that he would - it seems so entirely inconsistent with anything else about religious beliefs
So we have this all powerful and all knowing supreme being , right? And he’s got a plan for the entire universe and all of time, right? But he’ll disrupt all of that to grant you a favor if you wish hard enough? Or you can blame him if something bad happens to you specifically, out of all the universe over all time? What hubris, what ego could make us think we’re in control and can use it for personal gain?
Even a recent book advocating the efficacy of prayer in treating disease (Larry Dossey, Healing Words) is troubled by the fact that some diseases are more easily cured or mitigated than others. If prayer works, why can’t God cure cancer or grow back a severed limb?
I don’t think we could classify it as “false belief” since we can’t verify that statement.
Sure you can!
Get a coin, and flip it 100 times. Record each time it lands on heads/tails.
Now get a devout believer, and have the believer continuously say devout prayers petitioning God to make the coin read heads. Then, flip the coin 100 times, and record heads/tails.
Do statistical analysis to see whether there is a statistically significant difference between the control group and the prayer group. Pretty easy to verify if true.
That line of thinking led to the “docudrama” ‘What the bleep do we know?’ and the extended version “What the bleep, further down the rabbit hole.” Both of which can appear to be rational to most laymen, but are basically religious BS forced on a quantum physics foundation.
I’m completely on board with that, except for the “wish fulfillment”. I don’t know how it got twisted around that you could presume to tell God what to do or that he would - it seems so entirely inconsistent with anything else about religious beliefs
So we have this all powerful and all knowing supreme being , right? And he’s got a plan for the entire universe and all of time, right? But he’ll disrupt all of that to grant you a favor if you wish hard enough? Or you can blame him if something bad happens to you specifically, out of all the universe over all time? What hubris, what ego could make us think we’re in control and can use it for personal gain?
– Carl Sagan, The Demon Haunted World (1995)
See also https://www.whywontgodhealamputees.com/