Atheists and Prayer

[Marsellus Wallace]

I kinda have to go to the mosque on friday, cuz if I didn't , questions are gonna come after me ....
but really pray ? nope , not anymore .

[Norfolk And Chance]

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. No.

2. They're just fucking liars.

[Whateverist]

Define prayer.

I don't beseech a deity but do cultivate the capacity to disengage from discursive thought. Especially when problem solving or designing I look to the problem/challenge to see/understand it clearly but without a lot of patter. In this way I think I am opening myself to capacities that are not at my conscious disposal. In my subjective life I aim to be a better listener than speaker.

[Crazyhippokid]

See this is interesting, because when you say pray, what exactly do you define it as?

Now obviously your going to say praying to a God or Gods, but what about the times when you hope for something (i.e. you pray that a loved one isn't going to die etc.) but without any sort of reverence towards any kind of God or higher power?

I think most people, even if they are atheists, "pray" so to speak In the hope of an event like the one I've mentioned, but not necessarily to a God.

[truthBtold]

Prayer is meditation. .. kinda like oranges to apples..

[kirolo]

^ 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.

I think this really fits into what I meant in an earlier post when i said I prayed several months ago....pleading with nature...not praying. Thanks for this.

[Nine]

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?

At primary school we did like 1 min silence everyday to pray and then a joint prayer. The silent one I took the opportunity the first few days I was at the school and then figured it didn't work. The 2nd I went along with because otherwise I'd lose my lunch break!

I replaced most of the daily expression that are like mini prayers with phrases from TES games. Its nice to see peoples reactions when I say "By the nine divines!"

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?

I can understand pleading for the universe to cut you some slack. Life is unrelenting and sometimes overwhelming. I imagine if you grew up in a religious family then calling the universe god and praying probably comes pretty naturally.

I don't bargain with my enemies, I plot to destroy the universe. Its all imaginary but it works for me

[MitchBenn]

The fact that people in despair turn to prayer is not a point in prayer's favour...

[Tonus]

Define prayer.

I don't beseech a deity but do cultivate the capacity to disengage from discursive thought. Especially when problem solving or designing I look to the problem/challenge to see/understand it clearly but without a lot of patter. In this way I think I am opening myself to capacities that are not at my conscious disposal. In my subjective life I aim to be a better listener than speaker.

There is also stuff like affirmations and self-hypnosis, where you are (or someone else is) trying to influence the subconscious part of the brain. Prayer can work in this manner, in that some faiths use the rote repetition of specific phrases to strengthen belief. The runner positioned at the starting line, who keeps mentally repeating "I can do this. I can do this. I can do this" is saying a 'prayer' of sorts.

[truthBtold]

Meditation not prayer.. prayer is asking for something, talking to someone..