The online way to pray for others (from the BBC)
By Jane Lyons
New York
You can do lots of things online these days: socialising, networking, shopping. But praying? Yes, that too.
On a rainy morning in New York City, volunteers get together to work on PrayAbout.com. The website is based on a simple premise: people submit their requests for prayers, and others pray for them - an act known as intercessory prayer.
The postings run the gamut of human suffering. Some are concerned for sick relatives.
"Please pray for Jeff. He is in an intensive care unit with serious problems with his liver, pancreas, kidneys and bowels. Please pray that his body will pull through," reads one.
Others need help with a faltering relationship: "Please pray for the healing and mending of my love relationship. We are meant to be together and right now we need strength, positive energy, and love."
 |   You can fit it into your own time and schedule, it makes prayer much more a part of your daily life.  Rebecca Phillips Beliefnet.com |
The co-founder of PrayAbout.com, Rodger Desai, says the internet is a useful medium for his group.
While he does not believe it will replace personal interaction, he thinks it could bolster and support it.
He says the internet has distinct advantages for people who may have problems they are reluctant to share face-to-face, offering them the chance to think them through with other people's help online first.
Rebecca Phillips looks after the social networking aspect of Beliefnet.com. She says her site is similar to that of Facebook, only with a religious theme.
It has around 100,000 active members and its prayer requests page receives as many as 20 new requests each day.
She thinks that in addition to the internet's anonymity, its flexibility is a big advantage.
"You can fit it into your own time and schedule, you're not limited to weekly scheduled meetings - it makes prayer much more a part of your daily life," she says.
Traditional prayer
One such weekly meeting is held at St Patrick's Cathedral in New York.
 St Patrick's cathedral is a haven of tranquility in midtown Manhattan |
Each Wednesday lunchtime, a group of women meets to pray in the traditional way: in person, at church. They have been doing so for more than 30 years.
People who want to submit a prayer request with them have to come to St Patrick's and personally write it in the request book.
Some group members are enthusiastic about the online prayer sites. Barbara Howard believes it is the way of the future. "Everything will be online, so I think it's a good thing - and also inevitable," she says.
Others, like Midori Shimamoto, are not so sure. She says that being there in person is more touching: "The spirit is more intense and immediate. The internet just seems so cold."
Carol Vanadio believes in keeping the old traditions intact. She thinks that the online sites should be supplementary. "There really is nothing like being here in person," she says.
Scientific studies into intercessory prayer have not been able to prove its effectiveness.
Dr Mitchel Krucoff is Professor of Medicine and Cardiology at Duke University in North Carolina. He carried out one such study in 2003. The results showed that patients who had been prayed for fared no better than those who had not.
He questions the degree to which intercessory prayer benefits people, but says that there are plenty of testimonials around for those who choose to believe in them.
"Frankly, you don't need data to tell you that if your mother is in the operating theatre, it's ok to pray for her. You don't need a doctor's prescription," he says.
'Cosmic vending machine'
Dr Richard Sloan is Professor of Behavioural Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center and author of the book "Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Medicine."
He thinks comfort may be the only thing the sites provide and challenges those who run them to show him evidence to the contrary.
He also objects to the way he says the sites treat religious devotion: "It's like some kind of cosmic vending machine. You put the prayers in, and out comes some outcome that you want. It's nonsense."
However, people like Paige Wheeler, who started her site iPrayToday.com "as a vehicle to help others," will not be deterred.
What both she and the traditionalists at St Patrick's Cathedral share is a strong belief that what they do makes a very real difference to people's lives.
"If I didn't feel that it had an effect, then I wouldn't have done this. I truly believe in the power of prayer," she says.
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