richard_dawkins_-_the_god_delusion

THE GOD HYPOTHESIS 65
Another typical piece of theological reasoning occurs further
along in Swinburne's article. He rightly suggests that if God wanted
to demonstrate his own existence he would find better ways to do
it than slightly biasing the recovery statistics of experimental versus
control groups of heart patients. If God existed and wanted to
convince us of it, he could 'fill the world with super-miracles'. But
then Swinburne lets fall his gem: 'There is quite a lot of evidence
anyway of God's existence, and too much might not be good for
us.' Too much might not be good for us! Read it again. Too much
evidence might not be good for us. Richard Swinburne is the
recently retired holder of one of Britain's most prestigious
professorships of theology, and is a Fellow of the British Academy.
If it's a theologian you want, they don't come much more
distinguished. Perhaps you don't want a theologian.
Swinburne wasn't the only theologian to disown the study after
it had failed. The Reverend Raymond J. Lawrence was granted a
generous tranche of op-ed space in the New York Times to explain
why responsible religious leaders 'will breathe a sigh of relief that
no evidence could be found of intercessory prayer having any
effect. 38 Would he have sung a different tune if the Benson study
had succeeded in demonstrating the power of prayer? Maybe not,
but you can be certain that plenty of other pastors and theologians
would. The Reverend Lawrence's piece is chiefly memorable for the
following revelation: 'Recently, a colleague told me about a devout,
well-educated woman who accused a doctor of malpractice in his
treatment of her husband. During her husband's dying days, she
charged, the doctor had failed to pray for him.'
Other theologians joined NOMA-inspired sceptics in contending
that studying prayer in this way is a waste of money because supernatural
influences are by definition beyond the reach of science. But
as the Templeton Foundation correctly recognized when it financed
the study, the alleged power of intercessory prayer is at least in
principle within the reach of science. A double-blind experiment
can be done and was done. It could have yielded a positive result.
And if it had, can you imagine that a single religious apologist
would have dismissed it on the grounds that scientific research has
no bearing on religious matters? Of course not.
Needless to say, the negative results of the experiment will not