ITEMS of INTEREST

with contributions from David Stonehouse, Aymar Jean, Uriel Heilman, Marshall Lubin

"A LOT OF PEOPLE ...are interested in the power of prayer today, including researchers determined to prove it can heal and unlock the secrets behind it. There is a growing body of scientific study, some of it highly controversial, examining the health effects of prayer and religion. Subjecting spirituality to the rigors of scientific scrutiny, once hidden and scorned, is becoming acceptable.

"For centuries, religion and science have both sought for truth—separate quests that led them down widely divergent paths, cementing a strong divide between the two, at times a wary distrust. Now, they are coming together. Slowly....

"Robert R. Barth spends his days looking for studies [on prayer's effects]. They are piled high on his desk at the Office of Prayer Research near Kansas City, Missouri—a self-described 'clearing house' 'clearing house' for the results of the scientific scrutiny of religion. The office opened just last summer by decree of the Parliament of the World's Religions. On hand for the announcement in Barcelona, Spain, were medical researchers from Duke and Harvard Universities as well as renowned New Age spiritualist Deepak Chopra.

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