Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, already keen
interest in prayer has increased as part of the frenzied upsurge
in religion in general. Topping The New York Times' bestseller
list is a small book called The Prayer of Jabez, with "its
message that lives can be profoundly changed by the power of
prayer." Images bombard us on television regularly of masses of
humanity kneeling in supplication, praying to some all-powerful
deity. These images only increase the perception that prayer is
a potent force in dealing with the world's problems that is
endorsed by almost all of humanity. Many religious people want
to cling to the ancient belief in the supernatural, including
prayer, and yet accept the conclusions and benefits of modern
science. They can't have it both ways. To study the natural
world, scientists must have an implicit assumption that it
operates only by natural, predictable processes, which cannot be
affected arbitrarily by an all-powerful deity. One of the major
ways that scientists provide pr