elwoodblues

I don't think it's fair to go that far. I'd say prayer has roughly the same value as time spent in silent meditation, introspection, and calm examination of one's worldly problems. The ritualistic aspect also helps; it becomes a habit, the meditative state easier to achieve, the inner dialogue more developed.

Prayer can be a good thing, but not because somebody is answering. It's simply a good thing to examine the things that are not quite right in your life; it's simply a good thing to sit quietly sometimes and meditate occasionally.

Stephen T-B

Believers should be aware that god knows their needs before they express them, and the needs of those for whom they pray better than they do.
But this doesn�t stop them asking for divine interventions - just another of those little inconsistencies of which their world is full.
If �proper� prayer is properly meditation, why not call it such?
The fact is, prayer inevitably involves an invocation for help. It is, after all, the belief that a supernatural super-being somewhere out there loves them and is looking after them which keeps believers believing in it.
If they thought god would never intervene in their lives, they�d soon begin to think there wasn�t a lot of point in believing in one.
(On a personal note, Travo5, when god becomes irrelevant, he�s already sinking out of your life and will - unless some personal crisis brings him storming back - eventually disappear from view entirely. But don�t worry now about that ever happening because if / or when it does, you just won�t care.)