I was at a doctors apointment for my mother in the wating room wearing my Rational Response Squad T-Shirt. A stupid lady didnt quite read all of it and said, "I like your shirt". I said, "So you are a heathen too?" She said, "Huh", I said, "Oh, I dont think you understood the shirt". I stretched it out so she could get a full view. She gasped and said, "We'll (she was with her husband) pray for you"

I fucking hate that. If prayer works like they say then it should work weither I hear it or not. She might as will said, "Fuck what you think atheist".

So I am sure she too is wasting her time praying to a sky pixie for my salvation.  

If my mother hadn't been there I would have said, "Ok, you pray for me and I'll think for you." 

Clinical trials of the validity of intercessory prayer...

 From medscape.com (check for more details):

"Conclusions: Intercessory prayer itself had no effect on complication-free recovery from CABG, but certainty of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with a higher incidence of complications."

So, prayer, had no positive effect whatsoever, but those who knew they were being prayed for as part of the study actually did worse (to a statistically significant degree) than those who were not prayed for, or weren't sure if they were being prayed for.

Apparently those who knew they were receiving prayer as a part of the test put undue additional stress upon themselves which actually hurt their chances of complication-free recovery.

It's admittedly hard to study these things scientifically - maybe prayers to Ganesha or Mercury would have worked...

But I submit that the efficacy of prayers to the Judeo-Christian god were subjected to a (horrible) test on Sep 11, 2001.

Literally millions of people of faith were praying that the towers would not fall, that the people trapped would be extracted safely.

A comparatively tiny number of violent, crazed fanatics were praying to Allah that the buildings would fall, and that thousands of innocent people would die.

We all know the results.

Logical conclusion - either accept that prayer to the judaeo-christian god is utterly useless, or start learning Arabic and planning your pilgrimage to Mecca.

All of you are making the erroneous assumption that prayer must equal emperical positive effect in order for prayer to be something worth doing. Prayer is not money or something that is bartered. It is a way of life and a way of living life. Let me quote Theophan the Recluse:

 "Without inner spiritual prayer there is no prayer at all, for this alone is real prayer, pleasing to God. It is the soul within the words of prayer that matters, whether the prayer is at home or in church, and if inner prayer is absent, then the words have only the appearance and not the reality of prayer.

"What then is prayer? Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God in praise and thanksgiving to Him and in supplication for the good things that we need, both spiritual and physical."

Note that he says "what we need." That is what prayer is for and that is what prayer will get, what we need — not what we desire or want. Thus, tragedy can be transformed into salvation. Through prayer, one can endure all kinds of tragedy, rise above it, and love and serve their fellow man. For example, Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos suffered from cancer. He welcomed the disease because it allowed him to sympathize with others who suffered. He spent his life in prayer for others through his own suffering. Sounds crazy? Read about him. Look at his life and the things that those who witnessed his life saw. You can dismiss his whole life if you want, but if you want a document on the power and purpose of prayer, look no further than this holy man.

Seems like you've fallen into a little trap.  Try to be the hunter, not the hunted. 

Assumptions about prayer, yes there are many, however, the majority that do pray, are looking for something.  Requesting, pleading, begging, for their god to help them.  Make a change in their lives, save their loved one from dying, or for a shiny new car. 

Whatever you may think, prayer is a request to the individuals' chosen deity.  Don't know the published attributes of many of these so-called gods, but, in regards to the christian version, he is considered omniscient.  I'm guessing also, those who pray, at least believe in a god that is active in their lives.

Can you explain how you can change the direction of a "being" that already knows the direction. 

i.e., Look at the football game analogy.  If both those teams pray, one must be disappointed.  Did the team that won get their prayer answered?  To them, yes, but only cause they won.  If they had lost, that prayer gets put into the recycle bin for the next game, and doesn't count.  That point is actually another subject related to belief systems, but it does illustrate in a small way how ineffective prayer is.

I could go on, but, I just feel someone is praying for me to stop.

When, exactly, did I declare myself victorious?Did you actually bother to read the life of Elder Paisios? I offered his life as an answer to the question of "What's the point of praying." That is all.What man needs is not necessarily survival. A man who is 1000 meters beneath the surface of the ocean with a broken cable is pretty much going to die. What does he need in that moment? Prayer can give all of us the strength to face our own death without fear.Life is full of hardships, like cancer. Bad things are going to happen. Period. There is nothing we can do about that. What do we do when these bad things do happen? Prayer is a tool that makes hardships easier to deal with. Praying that your team will win, from Theophan's perspective, is just words, not prayer.

I am admitting no such thing. Prayer does work, it just doesn't work in the manner that most of you have proposed.The question posed by this discussion is "What is the point of praying?" A practical answer is: Bad stuff happens. Prayer can help you get through and endure bad stuff.
One thing a lot of people forget about Christianity and the path that Christ asked us to follow is that he suffered and died. So part of life includes both of those realities: suffering and dying. Prayer, as a way of life, can transform suffering and dying into strength and peace.Why pray without proof? The short answer is that this is the essence of faith. We have to take that leap. However, once that leap is taken . . . how else can I say it? I have seen the Kingdom of God. From my perspective God, Christ and his saints are real. That is the essence of the Gospel.

Oh, by the way... you say you have seen the Kingdom of God. I will jump over the obvious problems of this statement, even from religious points of view. But perhaps you would care to describe it for us ... ?

Perhaps, if you opened a new thread, in which you explained in detail, perhaps we might have a glance of what we, as atheists, are missing. Or perhaps we will only have another thread that proves how lack of knowledge, lack of logic and delusion are squirming one's mind.

Are you up for the challenge ?

I recall that when the pope visited St. Louis in 1999, a group of nuns (known specifically as "The Pink Nuns" ), were especially commissioned by the archdiocese to pray for good weather during the visit. Who says prayer doesn't make sense?