An Ethical Musings' reader sent me the following:
I once asked a Christian minister
about a quote I'd read, 'Prayer doesn't change circumstances it changes people
and people change circumstances.' He had a problem with this. Your thoughts?
Incidentally, the quotation appears to be a modified version
of this aphorism that, after brief research on the internet, seems to have
originated with Burton Hillis: "Prayer changes things? No! Prayer changes
people, and people change things." Burton Hillis was the pseudonym of William
E. Vaughn, a twentieth century mid-American columnist and writer.
Sadly, prayer sometimes becomes an excuse for people to take
no further action. Having interceded for a person or situation, it is as if the
person or group praying then consigns all further responsibility for action to
God. If Hollis' adage that "Prayer changes people, and people change
things" is understood as a protest against that attitude, then I agree
with the adage. Prayer is not an excuse to do good, love one's neighbor, or
care for the earth.
If taken literally, I think the adage may be something of an
exaggeration. In order of decreasing certainty, prayer may change things in
three ways.
First, praying most assuredly can change the person who is
praying. Praying (especially meditative prayer) can focus the attention of the
person praying, clarifying thoughts, reducing stress, and shifting focus in
positive directions. Numerous scientific studies have documented these
benefits. Praying for the well-being of another person can help balance loving
self with loving others.
Second, praying for another person (i.e., intercessory
prayer) may help the other person. Although nobody, to the best of my
knowledge, has conducted a double blind study of prayer, the many less rigorous
studies of intercessory prayer tend to suggest a positive association between intercessory
prayer and beneficial health outcomes. An ill person's awareness of
intercessory prayer offered on his/her behalf tends to strengthen the positive
association between intercessory prayer and beneficial health outcomes. The
studies that utilize the best methods and analysis acknowledge that correlation
is not causation. Psychological factors rather than God's action, for example,
may explain the positive association. Of course, those psychological factors do
not preclude the possibility of God acting.
Third, God may continuously act upon all aspects of
creation. Twentieth century British mathematician and philosopher Alfred North
Whitehead suggested that every aspect of the cosmos is dynamic and that God prehends
every individual event, whether a quark (or whatever the smallest element of
matter/energy is) or the most complex emergent event (e.g., a human being) in the
smallest fraction of time. Whitehead's philosophy is known as process philosophy;
process theologians have sought to interpret Christianity in light of process
philosophy. In both process philosophy and theology, God's ability to affect
the future increases with the complexity of an event. Thus, God may work
through prayer to change circumstances, is more likely to change another person
through prayer, and is most likely to change the person who is actually praying
through that prayer.
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