Atheists and Prayer

[Fruity]

I did pray, once, about 8 months ago. I begged, pleaded, bargained, to whatever/whoever may be there listening...during the darkest moment of my life. I would say that if there were a god who heard me and understood me, s/he would have known how sincere and serious I was. I figure there is either no god, or s/he doesn't give a shit. Still an atheist even though I prayed that one time. I felt really super silly the next morning.

I prayed in my darkest hour when I was a sweet, innocent little girl. Nope. Nada.

Excuse me if I no longer pray, be sweet, or innocent.

I don't think it's comforting to pray while not believing in a god. Feeling stupid just makes it worse. I totally get your post. Kudo x 10!

[Manowar]

I don't prayer period,because it never worked in the past. Just a total waste of time. People who do pray IMO aren't really Atheists.

manowar

[MJ the Skeptical]

Theists and Reality...

1) Do religious people ever snap out of their indoctrination and realize they're wrong before dishonestly going back to their religion?

2) Since religious people have feelings of doubt and even atheistic inclinations, does that mean they're really religious? since their sky daddy knows if you really believe anyway.

[Simon Moon]

Just wanted to get some thoughts on the following two questions:


1. Have any of you atheists here while you were an atheist, prayed to God (or gods) in certain circumstances in your life, especially like in desperate times or in troublesome times?

2. A small percentage of atheists said that they do pray (at least weekly or monthly) even though they don't believe in God. Are those people really atheists, then?

1. Never prayed once since I stopped believing in gods.

This despite the following:

Almost drowning while surfing on more than one occasion.

Burst appendix hours away from medical assistance, and a couple touch-and-go weeks in hospital.

Infection contracted in tropics, followed by more time in hospital, and a loss of 30 pounds (I left the hospital weighing about 130 lbs).


On all these occasions, not once did I appeal to any god. I was saved by: my swimming and surfing skills, the skills of many medical professionals and modern medical science.


2. These people could be praying out of habit, or maybe it relaxes them in a similar way that meditation does.

Are those people really atheists, then?

Praying does not necessarily exclude them as being an atheist, believing that there is a magic being that will hear them does.

[shep]

Oh yes I did one time when all seemed pretty hopeless ... once a believer it is remarkable how it "sticks" to you and can take you years to fully come out of it.

[ThePinsir]

I do a good bit of meditation. Sometimes I'll "pray" to the flying spaghetti monster, just to give my mind more focus. I think there's a bit of a difference between total-nothingness meditation and prayerful meditation.

I don't think the FSM is listening, but maybe there are some physiological benefits to pretending he does

[Angrboda]

I do a good bit of meditation. Sometimes I'll "pray" to the flying spaghetti monster, just to give my mind more focus. I think there's a bit of a difference between total-nothingness meditation and prayerful meditation.

I don't think the FSM is listening, but maybe there are some physiological benefits to pretending he does

My impression — based on nothing — is that all meditation is more or less functionally equivalent, it just varies in how well suited a particular technique is to the individual's strengths and weaknesses. This makes sense, as unlike beliefs, the practice of meditation, contemplation, or meditative prayer cuts across religious boundaries and tends to be rather agnostic. I'm Taoist and Hindu, yet I participate once a week with a group of Buddhists. I don't need to subscribe to Buddhist beliefs in order to follow a similar practice, and, even though I don't put any stock (or much stock) in the metaphysics of Buddhism, I can "manipulate" my practice of meditation based on the model presented by Buddhist metaphysics. And it's interesting to note that meditation or contemplation is extremely important to many of the most significant Christian mystics, for whom "experiencing" the divine is more important than reasoning one's way to it. Meditation appears to be one of few "one size fits all" spiritual practices, so I suspect that, despite individual variation in practice, the effects are largely the same.

[The Valkyrie]

The only time I would say I came close to "prayer" was about 6 years ago when one of my cats disappeared.

I walked through the backyard, heading for the busy road saying to myself quietly, "Please be okay. Please be okay." I don't know if you'd call that "prayer".

Unfortunately I did find him lying dead on the side of the road.

[MJ the Skeptical]

^ In your case, it seems like positive evidence for "prayer" not working, or pleading with nature so to speak. Which is natural I think. I had similar hopeful thoughts when my bird flew away.

[Mr Greene]

Back when I was in a Catholic primary school we were instructed to pray. However that was just a case of putting your hands together, closing your eyes and waiting for the cue to say 'Amen'. Beyond that, zip.