Comments on: I Didn’t Pray; Did It Matter?

By: Cole

Cole — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:10:58 +0000

Each passing week, I feel a little more like Post Secret is biased with the secrets that are posted regarding religion. It’s very common to see secrets suggesting atheism – or at the very least somebody’s slipping from Christianity – as being portrayed negatively or as a depressing incident (“I stopped praying and lost my house” or “I didn’t pray and the outcome sucked” etc). Very rarely is religion portrayed with that kind of negative stigma. Which leads me to wonder are atheists just not sending in positive secrets, or is the man in charge of the project just not sharing the positive atheistic secrets he receives.

By: Jason R

Jason R — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:22:52 +0000

it would have been even worse.

If you pray to Shiva, then Zeus would get pissed. If you prayed to Zeus, then Thor would have smacked you with his hammer. It’s just a lose lose situation.

Its best to just thank the doctor when you walk out of the hospital for all of his years of training and hard work. Oh, and don’t forget to thank the nurses, anesthesiologists and the EMT’s that helped.

By: keddaw

keddaw — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:03:50 +0000

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/25/tunisian-plane-crash-pilot-prayed

need I say more?

By: Brooks

Brooks — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:06:34 +0000

I wonder if this is why Orlando Magic lost their basketball game because they forgot to pray.

By: Eliza

Eliza — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:21:14 +0000

Brad, that's great that your asthma and your mom's muscle condition both went away. With evidence like that, prayer sure seems to work miracles!

By: georgie

georgie — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:52:39 +0000

I don’t pray and was never really one to do so as I was never really religious in any sense of the word. But I have a weird habit of crossing myself when there is a close call in the car, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to take your hands off the wheel at a time like that. Praying sounds safer at least. Now I just need to stop doing the sign of the cross, people may get the wrong idea.

By: Richard Wade

Richard Wade — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:40:00 +0000

I had a headache. I took an aspirin and prayed. The headache went away. Prayer works!

I had a headache. I didn’t take an aspirin and I didn’t pray. The headache continued. That’s what I get for not praying.

I had a headache. I didn’t take an aspirin but I prayed. The headache continued. I must not have prayed with enough faith.

I had a headache. I took an aspirin but didn’t pray. The headache went away. I didn’t think about prayer working or not, because I was too busy doing what the headache had prevented me from doing…. But prayer works, dammit!

I had a headache. I gave up trying to argue with silly, childish adults who can’t see the inconsistencies in their illogical cause-and-effect thinking. I don’t have any headaches any more.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:36:13 +0000

“Prayer does work!”

Tell that to Madeline Kara Neumann.

Oh, wait. You can’t.

By: Brad

Brad — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:12:02 +0000

I was prayed for as I had asthma. I’ve never had asthma since!

My mum had a degenerative condition of the muscles. She was prayed for and healed.

Prayer does work!

By the way, prayer is not just about seeing things happen, it is about having a relationship with Dad (God).

By: Richard Wade

Richard Wade — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 05:46:17 +0000

“I wonder if it would have mattered.” Sounds like the outcome was not a happy one. They wouldn’t be wondering about it at all if the outcome had been a happy one.

This is the less often seen flip side of the double standard for prayer. The more familiar side is when people pray:

When people pray and the outcome is good, they credit the outcome to the praying. But when they pray and the outcome is bad, they don’t think about any connection between the praying and the outcome at all.

The flip side is when people don’t pray:

When people don’t pray and the outcome is bad, they think that the not-praying might have caused the bad outcome. But when people don’t pray and the outcome is good, they don’t think about any connection between the not-praying and the outcome at all.

Will more than just a few individuals ever grow out of this particular kind of fallacious thinking?