I thought the Cha prayer study was not just charged with plagiarism but that there were other serious flaws in that study. I have to get back to reread that.....when I have time....
Annette ps: where'd Jim G. go? Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---- Original message ---- >Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 01:22:47 -0500 >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: [tips] Power of prayer >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > >Now that we no longer have Jim Guinee with us, posts about religion are >much diminished. Not to fill his shoes, but I thought it might be worth >mentioning that the New York Times has two recent long essays on the >topic. > >The first is titled "Suffering, evil and the existence of God", and it's >about, well, suffering, evil and the existence of God, by the eminent >scholar Stanley Fish. It's actually an extended review of two books, the >first written by a believer turned atheist, and the second by an atheist >turned believer. > > See http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/suffering-evil-and-the- >existence-of-god/?incamp=article_popular >or http://tinyurl.com/26ck98 > >In the second case, it's no mere atheist who had a change of heart, but >the famous ("notorious" is the word he uses himself) philosopher Antony >Flew. We did have a discussion a while back about the significance of >Flew's apparent conversion, about which there was some doubt. > >Now it seems Flew's really done it. Yet in the second essay, Mark >Oppenheimer makes a persuasive case that it occurred after Flew had begun >cognitive decline, and that he was duped into his new-found religious >belief by those who had befriended him. It seems that little of Flew's >book, titled "There Is a God: How the World´s Most Notorious Atheist >Changed His Mind" was actually written by him. > >See http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/magazine/04Flew- >t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=login >or >http://tinyurl.com/2z9chv >(free registration may be needed) > >This leads to my main point. We had expressed considerable interest at >one time in experiments purporting to demonstrate scientifically the >efficacy of prayer. One of the strangest of these was a report published >in the mainstream _Journal of Reproductive Medicine_ in 2001 by Cha, >Lobo, and Wirth with the title "Does prayer influence the success of in >vitro fertilization-embryo transfer? Report of a masked, randomized >trial." > >The answer was yes, at p = .0005, God exists and hearkens to prayer. The >study has now achieved a further remarkable distinction according to >Bruce Flamm, writing in the Ob/Gyn News (I read 'em all) ("Prayer study >author charged with plagiarism", March 2007, v. 42, p. 8). > >Dr. Flamm makes the bold claim: > > "This may be the first time in history that all three authors of a >randomized, controlled study have been found guilty of fraud, deception >and/or plagiarism". > >Dr. Cha was not pleased with this opinion, and is now suing Dr. Flamm >(see _The Chronicle of Higher Education_, October 24, 2007). Isn't prayer > research fun? > >Stephen >----------------------------------------------------------------- >Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. >Professor of Psychology, Emeritus >Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >2600 College St. >Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 >Canada > >----------------------------------------------------------------------- > >--- ---
