(May 11, 2025 at 8:01 am)Alan V Wrote: The vast majority of theistic believers think prayer is useful. They can believe this only if they embrace the idea that God is both conscious and willful, that he will listen to prayers and respond if he sees fit. So a super-intelligence super-being it is.They also seem to believe that prayer can't be tested, as if this deity magically switches its help off when we test the efficacy of it. Since it has been tested, using at least one set of double blind clinical trials, which found that the prayers had no discernible effect.
Of course when what you pray for comes true, it is evidence that prayer has worked, then when it doesn't god is simply mysterious. You can't dent that rationale, obviously.
