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Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with Dr. Mark Sheehan. During the interview Dr. Sheehan discusses the role his Christian faith plays in understanding the effect of prayer on his patients:
Alex Tsakiris: Your book is so strictly, uniformly Christian in its perspective that I want to push back a little because I don’t think the scientific data on prayer supports the idea that this is an exclusively Christian experience. Actually, the data I’ve encountered suggests just the opposite — prayer works — but there isn’t any superiority to a Christian belief system in encountering the spiritual, or the Divine.
Dr. Mark Sheehan: Well, those are good questions and rightfully so some concerns. Not all Divine experiences are of the Light. Some may be hallucinations. Some may be drug related hallucinations. Some may be lies. Some may be deceptions from the Evil One.
Alex Tsakiris: But is it a Christian light?
Dr. Mark Sheehan: Well, I come from a Christian perspective and that doesn’t mean God doesn’t call people who are not called Christian and belong to my God, the Christian God, even though they may not call themselves Christians.
Alex Tsakiris: Right. But I’m trying to really hone in and you’re being very open. I appreciate that. But I would suggest that the position you’re advancing about the science of prayer is not supported in the data because the assumption that we would naturally make from your position is that Christians would have a different kind of experience, or a better kind of experience, and they don’t.
Dr. Mark Sheehan: Right. Well, I appreciate that. That’s a very sensitive thing. When I come alongside my patients I don’t push my brand of faith, trust me. That would be presumptuous on my part and over-riding also and not appropriate. That is not my job. My job is to come alongside with love and caring and care for that patient, whether they have faith or no faith.
The Skeptiko interviews with Mark Sheehan (audio and transcript) are available at:
https://www.skeptiko.com/healing-prayer-expert-mark-sheehan/
About Skeptiko:
Skeptiko.com is the first scientifically oriented Podcast exploring new research in controversial areas of science such as telepathy, psi, parapsychology, near-death-experience, psychic detectives, medium communication, reincarnation, and after-life encounters. Each episode features open, honest debate on new scientific discoveries. The show includes interviews with top research scientists and their critics.
