Article on Prayer in the Times of India

[mohankarthik]

Hey

Read this article today morning on the times. Got really pissed off! What do we do about such blatant lies in the media. Most people end up quoting articles like this and then sticking onto them as the word of god.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/...267762.cms

[Lije]

I see two reasons for such stupid articles. One is that the media reports whatever makes money for it. God and religion are the most profitable materials that you can sell (near zero investment, large profit margins). So it shouldn't be surprising that media fawns over irrational ideas.

Here is the study in question. It deserves to be taught to science students as an example of how not to do a scientific study. No control group. No double blind testing. Sigh.

That is the second reason; the utter cluelessness of media in reporting scientific (in this case psuedo-scientific) studies. Here is Ben Goldcare's insightful rant on that.