HaysooChreesto!

I saw this thread title on a sports site that I visit pretty regularly. Trent Dilfer is a Quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks and is mostly admired by fans due to his underdog and overachieving type of career.
Apparently his son who was only 5 years old died this morning from a heart infection he came down with just over a month ago.
I have three kids and my world would change dramatically for the worse should any of them die.

That said, why would anyone urge someone to pray for another who's child had died? This to me is one of the most glaring examples of the hollowness of religous belief. The atheist questions are obvious and many; where was your god when the child first became sick? Where was your god while the child was on life support and dying? Why didn't your god cure this child? And of course, why didn't your god prevent all this in the first place?
If someone were to tell me they were praying for me and my child after my child died it would be hard to not punch them right in their fool mouth. It would be such an insult.

beth

I accept such prayers as a way to reach out and comfort. I do not believe in them, but I would appreciate someone saying that they are praying for me in a time of great distress. Now, I would be pissed if the prayers were used as an attack. But I truly think that these people have the players best wishes at heart. They are praying for his comfort and strength, right?

HaysooChreesto!

I understand what you mean. That it's their way to show support for that family's tragedy. Seen from that perspective it's not necessarily a bad thing.
But I see it as trying to be comforted by something I know to be non-existent. Kind of an attempt at a false hope. I don't like to bullshitted and that's how I would perceive it.

Enai

Maybe prayer in that case substitutes for a hug? Knowing that people wish you well can indeed make one feel better and saying "I'll pray for you" was to me always an equivalent of "I care about you", when not used in theological debate.
All the people who want to wish this recently-orphaned father well maybe don't know a better way to express that well-wishing. They can't hug him in reality, too. Heck, most of those people won't even ever shake Mr. Dilfer's hand!

It's a false hope to see that child again in heaven, but the idea to try and lift the grief is what would count to me. Besides, hugging and expressing shared grief doesn't bring back the son either. Both things are intended to make the bereaved parent(s) feel better and help them cope, though.

Enai

Ronin

How would you know?

Seems like just so many strangers craving attachment to a celebrity in illusory self-aggrandizement...as is all prayer to such a fearsome and vain sky king.

And just how does saying 'let us pray for Trent Dilfer' actually offer 'comfort and strength' to Trent Dilfer, when the inference is to petition the deity that was so cruel as to allow his five year old child to die of a heart infection?

This seems like just another example of how cynical and bold theists are to attach themselves and their dogma to a truly sad, tragic and vulnerable human at a time of epic numbness.

Again, as an atheist that holds to the brass examination of a foolish and insulting ritual, this assessment may be perceived as emotionally unpopular ~ which is nearly always to the benefit of organized religion.

For ~ either the atheist is callous and 'hard-hearted' to make such an assessment or holds their tongue, thereby, implying consent by their silence.

Fortunately, I am confident enough in my love and compassion for humankind to offer the assessment anyway for the sake of reason and dignity, and...if Mr. Dilfer were accessible to me, I would offer true comfort and strength by giving him peace, a time to grieve and the stated knowledge that I would care after anything he needed me to in a personal note of condolence signed ~ I hurt with you.

...and I do.

HaysooChreesto!

Yeah. Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on the prayerful well wishers.
My initial reaction was kind of like "your son just died but God will somehow make it okay".

Ronin

If more people said "I care about you" and offered so many better ways to provide comfort and strength the healing process would be far less confusing and nonsensical.

ImGod

It helps strengthen his faith so when they yell "You suck" at the next game and boo him he'll be able to shake it off and score another touchdown for Jesus. They'll be praying then too.

Goliath

As the old saying goes: Hands that help do far more than lips that pray.

Sincerely,

Goliath

beth

What exactly is so horrible about this? If someone said that they are praying to santa, zeus, or the tooth fairy to comfort me I would not be offended. I would thank them. Well, God goes along those lines. I am not angry at God, I do not thing that she is there to be angry with. So why the sensitivity. I understand they believe in her, so instead, I try to see that they are trying to reach out in the only way that they are able to.

Also, you may not know the beliefs of Trent Dilfer. He may just find comfort and solice in these prayers.