Prayer research - an overview

Beautifully put, Lenore.  Thank you.
 
 
Hilde


In a message dated 4/5/2006 4:46:55 PM Eastern Standard 
Time, 
lenbenYAHOO.COM writes:
It seems we are "hard wired" to believe in a 
supreme being.  All 
civilizations have proposed such ethereal entities to 
explain what to them is otherwise 
unexplainable.  That includes the  ultimate life crisis ---
Death.   All 
religions deal with death in  some manner or other usually
in a fashion to soothe 
our fragile egos about how  important we are in the scheme
of things so that we 
can be comforted that we  will go on forever in some manner.
      The issue  
of Prayer, relates to our conception of the being we have
postulated as our  
God.  There is little, in fact no, substantive evidence that
prayer is ever  
helpful in an intercessory fashion.  We cannot pray for
others.   Prayer is 
useful to make us feel better ("I cannot help this
person but at least  I can 
pray for him/her.") and we feel better for doing so. 
We can pray in  groups (in 
a place of worship) and this creates communal feelings of
well  being.   (Note 
the expression "thank God"  when we want to feel
 good that some favorable 
has happened.  Note that we do not have an  expression
"curse God" when 
something terrible happens (such as bc for those on  this
list).    This does not stop 
the Falwell and Robertson types  from claiming that any
calamity befalling 
their foes is the work of God as they  perceive him/her to
be.  

Just had to get that off my unilaterally  diminished chest. 
 Lenore in 
Seattle
 

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