The God Experiment: Can Science Prove the Existence of God? begins with a description of a prayer experiment conducted at a New England Hospital where three groups of people were studied. All were recovering from heart surgery. The purpose of the research was to determine if prayer could be a factor in determining the rate of these patients recovery. There were three groups:
- Those told they may or may not be prayed for (and who weren't)
- Those told they may or may not be prayed for (and who were)
- Those told they would be prayed for (and who were)
The God Experiment by physicist Russell Stannard was written before any conclusions from this study could be drawn. It is now complete. The American Heart Journal reports that, “… intercessory prayer (is) not effective in reducing complications following heart surgery.” However, Stannard had already concluded that a null hypothesis would have no effect on his discussion of the evidence for a belief in God.
He explains that even in his own field of research, high-energy nuclear physics, only after analyzing data from many highly controlled experiments can scientists synthesize conclusions. Thus, any single experiment involving prayer or the supernatural is just as insufficient in proving results as any single experiment in nuclear physics.
The God Experiment discusses causality in terms of the quantum theory. The tiniest particles that have been examined so far cannot be analyzed at all. Why? In order to observe them or their motion, science must bombard the particles with photons of light.
When light strikes these sub-atomic particles, its photons transfer some of their own energy to the very particles being studied distorting any view of their existence either as a particle or a mere energy wave.
As a result, when experimenting in the subminiature world of atomic physics, science cannot predict with certainty where a particle is or what causes it to exist in any given place. In fact, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle would allow a mere guess as to where a particle is: only the probability that it even exists in any given place.
This is incredible considering that these possible particles determine how an atom interacts with other atoms to form the molecules that make up all existing things, including us with self-conscious awareness and apparent free will.
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