scombrid

You’re right. A Supreme Being of Christian proportions shouldn’t be jealous and vindictive. However, the dogma that preaches the notion of One True God tells us that god is a very jealous god. He cares very much to whom you pray. That little stone tablet that fundamentalists keep posting in my schools and courtrooms with government endorsement tell me so.

Man created god in his image. Given the fickle and seemingly unfair nature of Mother Nature (like here in the east where drought destroyed the crops last year and now many fields are hopelessly inundated) it’s no wonder that primitive man projected its jealous/ego ridden tendencies onto its deities.

Shake

In the words of Ingersoll, "Hands that help are better than lips that pray." :notworthy

You could be like George Carlin and pray to Joe Pesci. Equally effective, IGCHO.

I think that if the prayee is not a theist, then praying only helps the prayer to feel better about the situation. If the prayee is a theist, then knowing that he/she is being prayed for might help to lift his/her spirits, but I seriously doubt that it could have any major medical help. (I do believe that there is something to having a positive attitude and healing.)

DamagedGoods

I wonder if any studies have been done to study the effect of prayer as a placebo-type effect? All the ones I've ever heard of seemed like they were trying to prove/disprove that something supernatural was going on, instead of just looking at it as the effect caused by having a positive outlook or knowing that other people were concerned about them.

fishbulb

To which god should a nonbeliever pray? Surely you would not presume to suggest we pray to your God rather than to Allah, Vishnu, Zeus, or Satan? After all, if we only have a few seconds to pray, selecting the right god to pray to becomes a bit of an issue.

For that matter, faced with a great crisis, ought not all of us, believers and nonbelievers alike, pray to every god, saint, demon, and spirit we can think of? Perform every superstitious ritual, chant, ward, and spell we know? Make stuff up and try that? After all, what do we have to lose by trying?

On the other hand, some of us might believe that it is better to live life to the end on our own terms than it is to retreat into fear and superstition whenever we are faced with a crisis. There is no right time for someone to die, but each of us nonetheless is going to die someday. No amount of prayer is going to prevent that, even if you happen to pray to the right god. Better to face up to reality and spend what could be your (or a loved one's) last moments with dignity and concentrating on how to make the most of what is left than to embrace fear, panic, and denial every time we are faced with a crisis or disaster.

Biff the unclean

I wonder if any studies have been done to study the effect of prayer as a placebo-type effect?
I've told this story before but since it's about me I never tire of it.
Awhile back within about a month of one another the wife of an old Navy buddy of mine and I were both diagnosed with the same sort of cancer. Both were equally advanced, we both sought the best medical care.
The only way we differed (we compared notes) was that she was a devout Christian. She prayed, her family prayed, her church dedicated masses to her, and strangers prayed for her.
I on the other hand, did not, nor did my family or friends. At one point a wandering Xian came into my hospital room to pray to Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeus for me. Being too weak to physically throw him out I chased him away with curses and the vilest of language.
End of the story, Mary spent the last week or so of her life drugged out of her skull. She couldn't even recognize her own children when she died.
Me? I'm fine, never better, completely recovered.

So the moral is "don't pray, it will kill you."

The_Unknown_Banana

You could be like that guy in "The Mummy", who tried praying to all the gods when the mummy was about to kill him. Worked for him too!

lpetrich

Seems like if there is a god, then that being had appreciated how Biff the Unclean had not bugged him/her/it with prayers for help.