Thoughts and not prayers.

[Brian37]

My mom appreciates it when people say they're praying for her. That's nice and all. I still think she'd be helped a lot more by other material things.

Moral support counts too, sometimes all someone can do is offer words of support. But prayer is really the superstitious way of saying you care.

But yea, it helps when you can say, spend time caring for someone, feeding someone, giving them rides, cloths, cook for them yea. 

I do hate it after someone tells me they will pray for me after they know I am an atheist. It still remains for most theists, their logic is that it works no matter if they tell you or not, so once you know I am an atheist, no need to tell me you are going to do it,  I know you will, so just do it, I don't need anyone to verbalize that to me.

Atheists are not afforded the same considerations in times of stress such as trauma, loss of a loved one. When my late mother suffered her health problems, and final decline I could not tell any of her friends what I thought. I could not say things like, "While I appreciate your concern, here problems are due to nature, not the super natural."  We are still expected to say nothing contrary even when we are the ones under the emotional strife.

The only reason I didn't go crazy to the point of ending it all during her decline, is because I had other atheists on line to talk to. But it was still frustrating listening to all the mythology and super natural claims, no matter how well intended, knowing even though I was in the same position theists go through too, it is still a double standard.

It is also why I put in my will that my body be donated to science. I am not going to have my family ignore my wishes and be at a gathering of my friends who personally knew me and upset those who knew me by denying them their right to say what they want about me and monopolize their morning as if there was a social pecking order to be followed. Atheists go through the same stresses in life as theists. We deserve the same consideration in our time of need as theists.  The only difference is that we dont assign trauma, illness or death to the super natural. But we certainly feel pain and love and missing loved ones too.