Please, enough of this praying nonsense.

Every day I see this nonsense going on and it's driving me nuts. Let me tell you what I see.
In this post I will refer to all religious people and groups (including terrorists as they are religious as well) as "religious people".

A group of religious people prays. Then that group goes out and kills innocent people in Paris.
Then religious people post on twitter #prayforparis

That was a couple weeks ago

This week:

A group of religious people prays, then that group goes out and kills innocent people in Turkey.
Then religious people post on twitter #prayforturkey

A group of religious people prays, then goes out and kills innocent people in Brussels.
Then religious people post on twitter #prayforbrussels

Next day

A group of religious people prays, then goes out and kills innocent people in Nigeria
Then religious people post on twitter #prayfornigeria

Next Day

A group of religious people prays, then goes out and kills innocent people in Iraq.
Then religious people post on twitter #prayforiraq

Am I the only one who sees a problem here? I actually forgot 2 of the other hashtags because there has literally been a new one every day of the week. You click on it and at the very top you see the carnage left over from whatever the religious people did after praying. The answer to fight it? Praying.. like.. WTF.

As an atheist my jaw is on the floor every day.

I don't see why 'prayer' leads to any of these things.

The religions, possibly, but prayer? no.

A better argument against prayer is it's validity, of which there are many that show how prayer is useless and you'll get the same results from praying to literally anything (like a table or glass of milk).

I believe there was a study not too long ago that the catholic church did for praying for people whom were ill, and praying for them either did nothing or actually made things worse (depending on if the people knew they were being prayed for or not)

a reply to: DumpMaster

Don't worry about it bud...

There will be someone along shortly who will pray for you too

originally posted by: Ghost147
I don't see why 'prayer' leads to any of these things.

The religions, possibly, but prayer? no.

A better argument against prayer is it's validity, of which there are many that show how prayer is useless and you'll get the same results from praying to literally anything (like a table or glass of milk).

I believe there was a study not too long ago that the catholic church did for praying for people whom were ill, and praying for them either did nothing or actually made things worse (depending on if the people knew they were being prayed for or not)

Yeah well said.

Anyways, it just blows my mind. Praying is sitting there doing noting but talking to yourself.

Imagine if even 10% of the people who just prayed actually did something to help we would have a huge difference in the world.

If thine enemy prays to win in the same ye do, then unless it ends in a draw, religion is a load of Bullshine.

a reply to: DumpMaster

so someone silently "talking to themselves" bothers you..... damn you really need to relax and not let things get to you.

originally posted by: DumpMaster

Anyways, it just blows my mind. Praying is sitting there doing noting but talking to yourself.

Imagine if even 10% of the people who just prayed actually did something to help we would have a huge difference in the world.

Yes but this allows them to feel like they did something to help without actually doing anything at all. That's a sweet deal don't ya think??

You get all the emotional satisfaction of helping and perhaps even some pride in yourself for doing nothing more than taking a few moments to talk to yourself. They are getting rewarded for doing almost nothing at all. That's like free money only emotional.

So of course they keep doing it. It's like those rats that have access to that button that stimulates their pleasure section of the brain when they push it. Instant pleasure without having to earn it.

originally posted by: DumpMaster

originally posted by: Ghost147
I don't see why 'prayer' leads to any of these things.

The religions, possibly, but prayer? no.

A better argument against prayer is it's validity, of which there are many that show how prayer is useless and you'll get the same results from praying to literally anything (like a table or glass of milk).

I believe there was a study not too long ago that the catholic church did for praying for people whom were ill, and praying for them either did nothing or actually made things worse (depending on if the people knew they were being prayed for or not)

Yeah well said.

Anyways, it just blows my mind. Praying is sitting there doing noting but talking to yourself.

Imagine if even 10% of the people who just prayed actually did something to help we would have a huge difference in the world.

A lot of those people who pray do actually do something.

Have you been on a mission trip before?

a reply to: DumpMaster

So if someone says "I'll be thinking about you" does that bother you? or is just the whole you're an atheist thing?

a reply to: DumpMaster

So basically, when I spend about 10 to 15 minutes praying directly before I sleep at night, it bothers you? What exactly am I going to do with that time anyhow?

#prayersforDumpMaster

a reply to: ketsuko

You need to get on twitter and blog about how religious people are wasting their time doing stupid religious stuff.

a reply to: ketsuko

a reply to: mOjOm

So explain to me what atheists do that is so much more superior to a few minutes of prayer?

based on your logic someone thinking alone is a complete waste of time and is only to stimulate parts of your brain. Thinking to yourself if kinda the same as prayer....

a reply to: DumpMaster

A lot of those praying people contribute significant sums of their income to help the less fortunate.

How much do you contribute to causes greater than yourself, if I may ask? Since you're obviously doing so much more than those praying idiots are, right?

a reply to: Ghost147

I don't see why 'prayer' leads to any of these things.

The religions, possibly, but prayer? no.

A better argument against prayer is it's validity, of which there are many that show how prayer is useless and you'll get the same results from praying to literally anything (like a table or glass of milk).

I believe there was a study not too long ago that the catholic church did for praying for people whom were ill, and praying for them either did nothing or actually made things worse (depending on if the people knew they were being prayed for or not)

I'm curious to see that study. I would think a placebo effect would happen if they actually believed the prayer was really working, not sure why knowing someone is praying for you would cause negative results.

a reply to: DumpMaster

You just made a very similar thread a couple days ago.

Prayer is a version of meditation. Meditation has been proven to be beneficial. Prayer as far as a magical power sure I can say its pretty big stretch. There are literally all kinds of prayers Tibetan Budhists have prayers. They stop you from texting and slow down your thoughts with a mantra.

Could it be to a doorknob and be effective probably. But relax it's harmless

a reply to: JDmOKI

If you want to compare thinking to yourself or meditation or whatever to prayer that's fine. I guess the only difference is that the person meditating or thinking to themselves doesn't imagine it going beyond themselves. The one praying on the other hand think that it effects the world around them or something outside themselves. I think that is a strange assumption to have.

I'm not saying atheists are better or worse than anyone either. In fact I never said anything about atheists at all.

What I said is that prayer is a sweet deal where people get to feel good about doing something for others even though they don't actually do anything at all by just praying.

originally posted by: JDmOKI
a reply to: Ghost147
I'm curious to see that study. I would think a placebo effect would happen if they actually believed the prayer was really working, not sure why knowing someone is praying for you would cause negative results.

I believe this was the one:

Prayers offered by strangers had no effect on the recovery of people who were undergoing heart surgery, a large and long-awaited study has found.

And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of post-operative complications like abnormal heart rhythms, perhaps because of the expectations the prayers created, the researchers suggested.

Because it is the most scientifically rigorous investigation of whether prayer can heal illness, the study, begun almost a decade ago and involving more than 1,800 patients, has for years been the subject of speculation.

link

I swear the church funded it. But, perhaps I'm thinking of another study with similar results. It was quite some time ago.

originally posted by: JDmOKI
a reply to: mOjOm

So explain to me what atheists do that is so much more superior to a few minutes of prayer?

based on your logic someone thinking alone is a complete waste of time and is only to stimulate parts of your brain. Thinking to yourself if kinda the same as prayer....

The actions of any human are superior to a billion hours of prayer I would say. You don't have to be an atheist to actually do something, but you do have to realize that praying does nothing.

I don't know the quote but there is some Einstein one where it's about the definition of being insane is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. After seeing a new #prayforCityOftheDay in twitter daily it makes me think of that quote. You guys have tried praying for like how long? has it worked? nope.