A couple of months ago, I shared a story that I dubbed a Prayer Fail. Three people died when they went off of their medication, because they were convinced that God healed them of their AIDs. (In fairness, the mother church teaches that people should not go off their medication and that people should only consider themselves healed when medical tests prove their healing.)
The prayer failed in that it did not heal their AIDs like they believed. Interestingly, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, or NCCAM, tested "distant prayer" as a cure for AIDs. It also failed. Medicine is more reliable than prayer, because medicine operates according to naturalistic principles. Prayer relies on God who may or may not (depending on His desires) heal you.
...Briggs, a respected NIH researcher and physician who has headed NCCAM for nearly four years, said in an interview that she is dedicated to evidence-based medicine and that the center, under her leadership, is committed to rigorous scientific studies.
The center's recently adopted strategic plan focuses on studies of supplements and other natural products along with the effect of "mind and body" therapies like yoga, massage and acupuncture on pain and other symptoms. In fiscal years 2008-11, NCCAM funded more than $140 million in grants involving mind-and-body therapies, including $33 million for pain research in fiscal 2011.
The new strategic plan "reflects real change or an evolution in our mission," Briggs said. "We are not your grandmother's NCCAM."
Studies of energy healing or distant prayer probably would not get funded by NCCAM today, she said....[1]
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