Prayer Study on Slate

William Saletan, somebody who has been pretty hit and miss on his coverage of the Dover trial, has this article summarizing takes on the study of prayer and heart patients.
He ends with 17 possible answers to why patients prayed for were slightly worse off.

1. God doesn't exist.

2. God doesn't intervene.

3. God is highly selective.

4. God ignores form letters.

5. God requires a personal reference.

6. God is unmoved by the size of your lobbying team.

7. God ignores third parties.

8. God takes His time.

9. God has a backlog.

10. God ignores you if you don't pray hard enough.

11. God ignores you if you're wicked.

12. God helps those who help themselves.

13. God does not hear the prayer of a Christian.

14. God chooses His own outcome measures.

15. God doesn't participate in studies.

16. God hates being told what to do.

17. God is malevolent.

Good list. I favour reason 1 though if you assume a god, the others make sense (in an assumed Christian God kind of way)