I think the Mormon thing of baptizing people in absentia is kind of charming.

I don't. I was furious about the baptizing of victims of the Holocaust.

For me, being prayed for usually makes me tense. I consider tense harm. For others, being prayed for makes them feel warm, fuzzy, supported, loved. I consider this a good thing for their psychological wellbeing.

Only if you know it's happening. So from a "studying the effects of prayer" standpoint, it's being told someone's praying for you that has the emotional effect, not the prayer itself.

I pray for my parents. To Gaia. I don't tell them because as sincere Christians I think they'd be bothered. But praying is as much for my benefit as for theirs. Probably more for mine, actually, as I think about it. It's sort of like bringing up the stuff I care about in front of my Diety and saying, "This is on my mind, thanks." I sleep better for doing it, and I don't think it does them any harm.

To me, prayer is between the praying person and her Deity. It's a way of deepening your mutual relationship. While it's lovely, I guess, that someone else is praying for me, it's really not a thing I'd discuss with the object the of prayer.

So from a "studying the effects of prayer" standpoint, it's being told someone's praying for you that has the emotional effect, not the prayer itself.

I don't know that, actually. Maybe my every mood swing is because of someone on the hotline to their god.

As tests go, it's not one. As results go, they're not conclusive.

We should start a collection in our Livejournals for people to give us money so we can get first-class tickets. You don't want to plan the revolution while you're jet-lagged, after all.

Right. Fomenting is hard work. "Our hair is shiny! Give us money!"

t sets up the Shiny Hair Foundation

I like the idea of someone walking up to Jilli at work and saying "I'll pray for you," and her being able to retort, "Hon, it's a crime to say so."

I have never had anyone offer to pray for me. I have been approached on college campuses by a stranger striking up a conversation, and it's always a split over whether they're likely to be from Keystone or from PIRG. I always tell them to tell me what they want -- neither party seems aware how obviously their sales pitch is quivering, hopefully, below the surface. (Also, who strikes up conversations with random strangers, if you're not, like, standing in line for something?)

A rabbi once invited me into a traveling Succoth once (it was built in a pickup truck bed). I declined politely, and in his case I think he was just so charmed to be driving around with a Succoth in his truck bed that he was talking to everybody who passed by. Certainly, that was a good conversation starter.

Disagree.

Care to elaborate?

I take it from the rest of your post that you think that your knowledge of being prayed for could have positive or negative effects. If so, I agree with you. But that is a social/cognitive effect. It would be present even if you received "sham" or "placebo" prayer, e.g. someone pretended to pray for you but didn't. To know if the prayer works we need to isolate the effect of prayer from the effect of knowing about the prayer. Those studies show no effect.

A rabbi once invited me into a traveling Succoth once (it was built in a pickup truck bed). I declined politely, and in his case I think he was just so charmed to be driving around with a Succoth in his truck bed that he was talking to everybody who passed by. Certainly, that was a good conversation starter.

Hey, it's a great pickup line.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Maybe I shouldn't bring my dagger collection with me to Sydney, then. I wonder how airport security would deal with my defense of, "But I'd never use them for violence, they're too pretty and it'd get them all scuffed and dirty!"

But Madrigal, then what will you use to kill and skin the kangaroos for your dinner?

To know if the prayer works we need to isolate the effect of prayer from the effect of knowing about the prayer. Those studies show no effect.

What were the prayers? Who were they offered to? Who were they offered by?

I'm not so much atheist, not so much agnostic -- I mostly don't care about the existence of a deity. However I can't but feel that efforts to prove or disprove the existence of most gods are so incredibly flawed that I can't believe anyone spends time on them. What sorts of controls can you even use?