Last week, Andrew Brown wrote a piece for Comment is Free that points out that the results of a trial exposing prayer as having a nocebo effect on patients in the US proves that the majority of said Americans don’t really expect prayer to work. There are obviously flaws in his arguments: At the most basic level, not beleiving in the power of prayer doesn’t necessarily preclude from beleiving in God, and certainly doesn’t mean that one is effectively atheist (with either a big or little ‘A’). But that doesn’t stop it being a interesting argument, and one that I would recommend you read.

The Comment is Free site is excellent, with a wealth of commentators from both ends of the political spectrum and everywhere inbetween. Go see!