Does Prayer Really Work? Does God Even Care?

[FatAndFaithless]

You're conflating the *act* of prayer and it's efficacy with the *actions* of humans and those action's associated efficacy.

The point being, the *act* of prayer is indistinguishable from doing nothing at all, vs. the very real and tangible results from humans actually doing something.

On the contrary. It was me that made the distinction in the first place, suggesting that one could debate the mechanism of prayer while still acknowledging the beneficial effects. You might not have noticed it, but I was giving atheists a way into examining what may be positive about prayer without having to believe in the divine realm.

Well, the point is that prayer (or whatever label) can be beneficial for the practictioner, but it's not the prayer that feeds the hungry, it's the actions of the people that feed the hungry (for example).