"They said God was on high and he controlled the world and therefore we must pray against Satan. Well, if God controls the world, he controls Satan. For me, religion was full of misstatements and reaches of logic that I just couldn't agree with."
(Gene Roddenberry)
(Gene Roddenberry)
Does prayer work?
Consider the passengers of either of the planes that were flown into the World Trade Center. It is very likely that many of those terrified victims were praying hard and with the most intense concentration and pure thought as one could possess. Still, it did them no good as the planes hit the buildings and burst into flames killing not only the passengers but, ultimately, thousands of unwilling and undeserving men, women, children, fathers, mothers and friends.
In his best selling book, The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins points out that somewhere, perhaps right now, a little girl has been abducted and will be tortured, raped and killed by a pedophile. If God is omniscient, and omnipotent, where is His grace and power to save the little girl? And who is more deserving of protection than this innocent child?
If God cannot or will not provide salvation in these examples, how can anyone believe that praying will bring victory to their favorite sports team, money to pay the bills, deliverance from an airliner being flown by religious zealots intent on reaching the Promised Land through their martyrdom or escape from the clutches of a madman?
With reality as context, prayer is only as effective as believing that Superman will streak out of the sky to stop a speeding locomotive from crashing into a crowded school bus stalled on the tracks.
See more about why I do not believe in God.