On the lunacy of prayer

[Spongebob]

I get the idea of prayer being bullshit from an atheist perspective but I do not really understand the negative emotional response to other people praying or even prayer requests.

First off, I do not know any religious person who thinks prayer is a substitute for initiative. Religious people pray for guidance before deciding what to do. They request blessing for actions they commit to taking. And they ask for help after they've done all they can, as in "Its in Gods hands now."  Even from a secular perspective, these are just meditation, motivation, and hoping for the best. So what's the problem besides offending antitheist sensibilities? Or maybe the mockery makes some people feel superior.

Prayer is a strange thing.  It seems that there is an appropriate time/place for it.  When I see a family at McDonald's holding hands, squinting their eyes and praying over their sodium filled, fat drenched gut bombs it just makes me laugh.  I'm pretty sure that when people do this in public it's mostly for show.  Perhaps its for others to see how pious they are or for god to see how pious they are.  Either way, it just looks stupid.  There's something to be said for discretion.  Jesus, himself advocated private prayer.

And some Christians certainly do expect prayer to accomplish things that they have no power to accomplish.  They expected prayer to get Trump elected a second time, for instance.  They've been organizing mass prayers to end abortion for decades.  It happens a lot in some Christian circles.