Atheists Only: Would this be proof?

[Willamena]

Originally Posted by Katzpur

Would these results, if they were exactly as I described them, possibly cause you to re-think you lack of belief in God? Would they, in other words, be sufficient to make you to believe in God?

Sufficient, no. It is more likely that the prayers themselves, and not an absent third-party entity, are responsible for healing. Looking to observations for solutions returns a more believable answer than looking to the unobservable for solutions.

[Falvlun]

Originally Posted by Willamena

Sufficient, no. It is more likely that the prayers themselves, and not an absent third-party entity, are responsible for healing. Looking to observations for solutions returns a more believable answer than looking to the unobservable for solutions.

That's what I was thinking too. There might be an inherent positive power with "thinking nice thoughts" about people. (As well as the reverse). You would have to somehow separate the effects: If the results of the first experiment show that there was a statistical healing advantage for the group that was prayed for, then set up a new experiment, where some people pray to God to heal the person and some merely think nice, healing thoughts about the person.