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Is there value in prayer? Can prayer heal us or help when we're feeling down? Does God really hear us and answer when we pray? Is there a way to scientifically prove that prayer works or is it just a colossal waste of time? These are the questions that fuel ongoing debates between the religious and scientific communities. Believers and non-believers grapple with these questions every day.

As a committed Christian I must confess that my view of the value and effectiveness of prayer has evolved over time. As a child my prayers were mostly memorized rituals. I prayed before meals and before I went to bed simply as a matter of course. As a young adult I tended to follow the "chicken soup" approach to prayer, as in, "I don't know if it really works, but it's like chicken soup. It couldn't hurt!" But as I've grown in my faith I have come to recognize that prayer can be effective both in helping me to cope with the stresses and strains of everyday life and in strengthening my relationship with God.

Scientific studies attempting to measure the effectiveness of prayer have been mixed at best. Skeptics point to the inconclusive results of many of these studies as evidence that prayer is useless, while some believers maintain that it is impossible to put God to a scientific test. Other researchers have found that there are observable health effects from prayer such as lowered heart rates and blood pressure, while critics will argue that similar results may be achieved through methods such as meditation, biofeedback, yoga or massage.

Non-believers might be surprised to learn that I don't disagree with them on this point. I believe in prayer and practice it daily, but I have also tried biofeedback, meditation and generally schedule a one hour, full body massage at least once a week. From a purely physical standpoint prayer does seem to produce results that are similar to each of these methods. When I pray I favor a quiet, private place. I relax and focus on my breathing and I try to clear my mind of outside distractions. The result is that I do begin to feel calmer and less agitated. I can't help but think that my stress levels are lower as a result. Do I experience similar results from meditation and biofeedback? Certainly I do, but I don't believe that makes the need for prayer any less valid.

I think the piece that is missing when researchers attempt to study the effects of prayer scientifically is that believers in prayer engage in the practice for more than just the superficial,

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