"...I bumped into other scholars exploring this field, such as Dan Benor, Jeff Levin, David Larson, and Harold Koenig. I spent several years assessing these studies, which resulted in my 1993 book, Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine. Back then, there were three U.S. medical schools out of 125 that had formal courses looking at the role of religious devotion, spirituality, and prayer in health. Now 60 of the 125 have developed such courses, and around 100 have declared their intentions to do so...." [more]

"...In a study on germinating seeds done by Dr. Franklin Loehr, a Presbyterian minister and scientist, the objective was to see in a controlled experiment what effect prayer had over living and seemingly non-living matter. In one experiment they took three pans of various types of seeds. One was the control pan. One pan received positive prayer, and the other received negative prayer. Time after time, the results indicated that prayer helped speed germination and produced more vigorous plants. Prayers of negation actually halted germination in some plants and suppressed growth in others...." [more]

"...Dr. Daniel Benor (Complementary Medical Research 4:1, 1990) found 131 controlled studies involving prayer or spiritual healing. Of these, 77 showed statistically significant results. A sample of some of these studies follows:

Lower-Life Forms: Through conscious intent, test subjects (i.e., normal volunteers with no special abilities) were able to influence the growth of fungus, molds, yeast, and bacteria, often at great distances. These studies imply that prayer has the potential to fight infections.

With potentially profound implications, subjects were also able to alter the genetic mutation rate of bacteria. If prayer can alter the genetics of bacteria, it is conceivable that it could do so in man. If this is indeed the case, man may not be limited to what was previously thought to be his born-with, genetic destiny. In fact, Gregg Braden, in Walking Between the Worlds: The Science of Compassion (1997), presents a case that human emotion affects the actual patterning of DNA (the genetic material) within the body...."

"...The healing power of love is more than just a romantic notion -- it's also a physical reality. At Harvard Medical School, for example, a professor showed students a film of Mother Teresa lovingly caring for her patients. Analysis of the students' saliva for antibodies (a measure of immune response) before and after the film showed a measurable increase in their immune response following the film...."

"... So, for the past 2,000 years we may have been focusing on only ten percent of the matter. We've devoted immense energy to understanding matter. But we have neglected, not even suspecting that it's out there, ninety percent of what is present in the universe without a clue as to the physics which truly governs it.

"... As philosopher Eugene Mills4 describes, '[Newton's critics] disapproved of his failure to explain why bodies behaved in accordance with his laws, or how distant bodies could act on one another '. . . This sort of worry no longer bothers us, but not because we have answered it!"