The Immoral Power of Prayer

This is an issue that is very close to my heart, because I feel that it is something that is ingrained in children at a very young age and is harmful to their development as humane members of our society.

The immorality of prayer.

Why do I say this?

Not everyone who prays is praying for personal gain, or mundane things, most are praying for very humane and caring things.  

God, I knew that you wouldn't mind taking time out of your
 busy day for Monday night Football....wanna take sides?

People praying for a loved one's cure from cancer, 

Friends praying for friends to find a way out of the dark reality of drugs,

Fathers praying for daughters to find the strength to escape violent relationships,

etcetera, etcetera, and on and on ...

What could be wrong with that?

I mean, even if God ISN'T real, what is the worst that can happen?

We'd still have to see THIS!

The worst that can happen is already happening.

INTENT

Are people really trying to help? I know that the answer would generally be yes, but are they really?

Do they really think that their god will ignore the plights of needy people unless someone kneels and begs him to intercede?

Do they really think that he doesn't already know?

Do they think that it will make ANY difference at all if they believe that their god is a good and just god?

I would say that, if pressed, most people would have to consider their answer and say no to all those questions.

So why do they do it then?

Who does it help? To whom does it offer consolation? To whom does it give relief?

The answer to all these questions is: It helps only the person who is praying.

It makes them feel like they have done their part, like they have some real sympathy for the person in need.  Like they have a sense of humanity and caring that surpasses others. It makes them feel genuinely good that they are a good and caring person.

Seems like all the positive manifestations of prayer are all in favour of the person praying.  At worst, it makes it lazy, self aggrandizing, arrogant, UNcaring, and selfish.

At best, it is just arrogant, self aggrandizing and selfish.

Ummmm, that touchdown was for the whole TEAM!

When someone prays they are thinking that they have a special connect line to the creator of the universe, the artificer of the laws of physics and the writer of all morality. That is the very definition of arrogance and is worse than the worst case of nepotism that you have ever encountered.  

Ok, the second worst

When someone prays they are not bothering to bake a cake, or make a call to raise funds, or write a letter to help someone get a job, or even buying a card. What it does is give someone is a sense that they have done something. It gives them the sense that they are a good person and a feeling that they have proof that they really do have the person in need's issues at heart. Since no one would say that God would ignore the plights of the needy without THEIR voice to plead the case of the needy, it follows that the act of praying is lazy, self aggrandizing and uncaring (since prayer only benefits them, it is clearly not out of caring for the person in need).

At the very best, when the person praying DOES bake a cake as well, or DOES make a phone call as well, or even DOES pay a visit, it makes the act of praying useless.  What bothers me about those people praying is that if something good DOES happen, they attribute the prayer and god for the improvement, not the interceding of caring people. That spreads the wrong message in my mind.

So I can't see a single instance where prayer is a good thing unless it is for yourself and for the comfort that your beliefs give you.  (Even then I would argue that there are better ways to do that, but this is where opinion rings pretty heavily and I can't really back it up with evidence.  Just more opinion.)

Let's give credit to the people who really deserve it.

Doctors, case workers, wives, husbands, children, loving friends, policemen, science, caring strangers, and sometimes even bald chance.

But don't give credit to the prayer that did nothing but make the person praying feel as though they were finished and had to do nothing more to help.

If you really believe in God, and that he is a good being, then don't worry ... he's got it under control.

If you believe that your prayer is helping, then what you are saying is that God really is a self important, narcissistic, malevolent being who cares nothing for the needy but only for the praise that begging for help gives him.

And

If you really want to help someone in need, get up off your knees and use your hands.

Place a call, buy a card, send a donation, or just make a cake ...

Trust me, that is the kind of help, that actually helps.

maybe it doesn't help THIS guy

Peace