Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparrow
A lot is claimed about the power of prayer - presumably that could be measured scientifically.
I recently heard a story of Anatole France being shown around Lourdes by a Catholic friend. He was shown a pile of crutches that had been discarded there; "Not many wooden legs I notice" was France's observation.  |
(from Skepdic: )
To its eternal discredit, the Roman Catholic Church investigated Soubirous's claims for four years before approving devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes. Since then, the Church has validated 67 miracles at Lourdes (of the thousands that have been reported*) and canonized the peasant girl. (Her body, which is on display, is alleged to be incorruptible, but the face and hands, which look so lifelike, are made of wax.) It is estimated that in recent years about 5 million pilgrims a year visit the shrine at Lourdes. Over the past 150 years, some 200 million people have made the pilgrimage. For those who care, that's a success rate of .0000335% or 1 out of every 3 million. Furthermore, since 1947 anyone claiming a miraculous cure has to go before a medical board. "From 1947 to 1990, only 1,000 cures were claimed and only 56 were recognized in that time, averaging 1.3 cures a year, against 57 a year before 1914." Since 1978, there have been only four recognized cures.