Eyeworld

EW NEWS & OPINION 15 Investigating visual effects of proximal prayer in Mozambique A n elderly woman in Mozambique who cannot even see her hand from 1 foot away, much less count fingers, undergoes a brief Pentecostal proximal prayer in- tervention. In less than 1 minute, she is able to not only count fingers, but also read the 20/125 line on a vi- sion chart. This is not just an anec- dotal finding. It was among the recent results published in the Sep- tember 2010 issue of the Southern Medical Journal from a study on the success of proximal healing prayer, led by Candy Gunther Brown, Ph.D., associate professor of religious stud- ies, Indiana University, Blooming- ton, Ind. Blossoming Pentecostalism Prior to the investigation, Dr. Brown had been studying the emphasis on prayer for healing around the world and considering the relationship be- tween that emphasis and the growth of Pentecostalism in particular. "There are something like 500,000,000 adherents of the Pente- costal group worldwide," Dr. Brown said. "When you look at why people are joining these movements, as many as 80% or 90% of the time the reason is because people perceive that they had a healing experience for themselves or for a family mem- ber." In particular, Dr. Brown found that Mozambique had a global repu- tation among Pentecostals as a hotspot for specialized prayer for vi- sion and hearing. "As I have looked for the last 7 years at global Pente- costal practices, over and over again I have found reports of improve- ments in hearing and vision specifi- cally that come from Mozambique more often than any other loca- tion," she said. Dr. Brown wanted to hone in on the effects of proximal rather than distant prayer, which she finds is more often studied because it seems "neater." The problem is that distant prayer is not how Pentecostal inter- ventions normally work. "We wanted to look at natural religious practices—how are people perform- ing these routines and activities," Dr. Brown said. "Another problem with distant prayer study is that there isn't any plausible mechanism for how that would work scientifi- cally." By contrast, Dr. Brown points out, there are a variety of complex mind-body interactions, such as em- pathetic touch, compassion, and personal connections, that scientists are only beginning to scratch the surface of understanding that could be at play with the proximal ap- proach. Visual testing in Mozambique For the study, investigators set out to determine if people are reporting a change and if it's possible to meas- ure these differences. Included here January 2011 by Maxine Lipner Senior EyeWorld Contributing Editor Praying for good vision continued on page 16

• Cover