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Human beings have been praying for millennia and it seems about time to face up to reality - prayer fails and is actually destructive!
First, there is no proof that there really is anything to which to pray and due to the repeated failures of prayer to work, it seems quite probable that there is no God or God does not care at all!
Recent scientific studies have generally proven that prayer makes no difference in the outcome of an illness or other calamity. Even the most favorable study outcomes for prayer are only marginally favorable and generally based upon questionable criteria.
Actually, we do not need studies to know that prayer does not work. Numerous horrible human conditions have existed for millennia and we must assume that humans have been praying for them to end for an equal amount of time. Why has not prayer stopped these horrible conditions?
We should, also, note that it is often little children that bear the brunt of these calamities. Does God not love the little children? Has no one prayed for the little children? Of course not! What is more probable is that those calamities are probably the most prayed about conditions of all! Yet, all these things continue to plague humans. Obviously, prayer has failed!
The problem with analyzing the effectiveness of prayer is that sometimes adverse conditions resolve themselves positively, but often they do not. If a condition resolves itself positively, a person who believes in prayer will give the credit to God. But, if the condition ends negatively, God is never given the blame. Rather nonsensical excuses are given, like: "God works in mysterious ways" or "We cannot know the mind of God". These are reasons that appeal to human ignorance and neglect the truth which is that God didn't have a thing to do with it.
At best, prayer has only a placebo effect. In other words, prayer or a person's knowledge that others are praying may give the afflicted person a positive or more relaxed attitude. These benefits can be obtained through other means and need not be based upon the false hopes of prayer.
Humans have exerted countless hours in this meaningless endeavor called prayer. At the extreme are monks who spend a great deal of their days in prayer. Massive prayer events have become popular. Some spend only a few moments in prayer. Some even fight over the proper way to pray!
But, this time and effort would be much better spent in working to actually improve the human condition! People need to work together with love and respect to avoid or end the maladies that have plagued mankind for all of its existence! Let the exhilaration of working together for our betterment be our pleasure! Let the fact that we have worked hard together and done our best be our peace!
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