Note: This topic does not include scripted prayers, which is a completely different topic.

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People pray to God every day for several reasons. They may pray for themselves, hoping that they won't get robbet on their way to work. They may pray for their pets or relatives, hoping for them to survive a deadly disease. They may also pray for people that they don't know, hoping (for instance) that God will feed the poor and shelter the homeless.

There are countless reasons to pray to God, but the ones that I have mentioned (which also happens to be some of the most common examples) share one major flaw: The one praying is questioning God's wisdom.

God obviously knows that people are starving around the world. And even if everyone prayed for all of them to get fed, that obviously wouldn't happen. If prayers would matter, they would be working as a tool for us; A tool giving us the ability to play God, and to feed the poor. How does it make any sense that the wealth of the unfortunate is dependant on our prayers? I mean, God gave us free will, which means that we are able to do what God think is right or wrong. So, why should innocent/completely disconnected people fall prey to our choices of not praying? (Well, unless we have a small amount of 'God' inside us, giving us the ability to feed the poor using our prayers.) It obviously makes sense that their wealth is dependant on our actions, but not how we practice our faith.

And then there is the most important flaw: Your will. Because God's will is flawless and stands above all others. Every prayer similar to the examples mentioned in the beginning should be replaced by the words: Thy will be done.

Don't ask for God to save your sick dog, let God decide if it should live. God knows what is best for everyone, while your skewed opinion has flaws. Because unlike God, you cannot see the whole picture. What if God wants people to starve in certain part of Africa so that otherwise selfish people will be forced to act? What if God wants your mother to die prematurely so that you will use your free will more carefully in the future due to your broadened view on life? In other words: You don't know what is best for you, only God does. Your prayers, on the other hand, indicates that you know how God should act. Replacing your prayers with "Thy will be done" should make sure that your faulty opinion won't result in others suffering (again, assuming that you have godlike powers by using your tool). However, this also means that prayers are redundant as long as you simply trust that God will do what is best for everyone.

So yeah, I don't see a single reason to pray to God when someone is in need. Feel free to prove me wrong.

Wow....No offense but F**k you

The biggest reason that I can think of is that praying helps make some people feel better. For some people, it's a way to talk about their problems, and get it off their chest. Some people also really appreciate it if they were in, say an accident, and other people pray for them to get better.

I know I'm sort of glossing over your post (by the way, I do enjoy your threads like this; they're very fun to read), but I can't argue from a religious point of view about why people pray because I don't really know. But I think it's more of an "it's the thought that counts" sort of thing.

i guess there is nothing to believe in then

How about humanity?

The way I (as an atheist) see it, is that you're not praying to God at all. In a way, you're praying to yourself. To quote Firefly:

"It's my estimation that... every man ever got a statue made of him was one kind of sumbitch or another. Ain't about you, Jayne. It's about what they need."

      -Captain Malcolm Reynolds

The same sort of thing is true here. It makes the person feel better to think that somebody out there is on their side and helping them. It gives them strength. Yes, God, if he exists, is probably ignoring them, but all they need is to think that he is with them. It's a kind of placebo effect.

You make a good point. I almost included that I see the bolded as the only possible positive outcome of a prayer, but never found a good place to write it.

I believe God has a perfect plan for everybody. That's why I pray, hoping to change his plan.

- This has never made any sense to me.

i guess we should be praying to the other guy from now on, you know, the one marilyn manson worships.

I agree with Kantor, as a personal thing it's totally great and I'm totally fine with it.

But when people pray for others? Well that's different. It makes people think they're helping without actually doing anything at all in a lot of cases.