Here’s something I’m tossing out there: why do people pray? I’ve realized for some time that there are simple tricks that can fool people into thinking something works for actually accomplishing things: confirmation bias (remembering the hits and forgetting the misses), as well as a general tendency to see patters in randomness (a finding that’s been extended even to baseball). Sometimes, people do talk as if they pray to because they expect it to get them what they want, and in those cases I’d bet the psychology is basically the same as that in any simple form of magic. But people who take that straightforward, pragmatic approach to prayer aren’t necessarily the norm.
Asking people why they pray may not bring the best results–people often lack clear ideas about why they do the things they do. More informative would be what it’s like internally–why kind of experience, from their point of view, generally prompts prayer? That question doesn’t solve all the problems of accuracy. For example what if people are lying about the more fundamental question of whether they pray, or whether they pray frequently? Maybe I’ve just heard too many politicians be too casual in insisting they pray every day, but I suspect questions about frequency of prayer are as likely to elicit lies as questions about, say, number of sex partners.
Rather than asking “how often do you pray” I would think you would get a more accurate response to the question “have you prayed in the last 24 hours?” It would be interesting to know, I agree. Sadly the people who write papers about that sort of thing aren’t yet that assiduous in putting them online…
More accurately, the papers are online but behind password protection, because the companies that publish papers need to get paid.
But yeah, asking whether you prayed in the last 24 hours is apt to be more accurate. Perhaps best would be “when did you last pray, and why?”
I pray because it makes me feel as though someone cares and is listening, someone who will help me or whomever get through this. It is an expression of love when you pray for others. It is a show of faith in something great. It is not cause and effect we are not saying pray for a pony you get a pony. You pray for strength for someone getting better, for meaning. When I get stressed out I find myself praying without even thinking, it is so embedded in me I am not sure you can even call it a choice. It is something to do when nothing else will work and if you have faith you believe it is something to do that has meaning.
Congratz I have faith, do you even know what to do with that?
Also I noticed your next entry you finished while we were talking yesterday, stealthy of you ^_^
Chris, I cannot help but wager that you were expecting an answer that might make sense to you. As a fellow atheist, I severely doubt you’re going to get one.
Interesting discussion here. I would not be surprised if politicians, to pander to various groups, would brag about their prayer much the same way as the stereotypical horny young man brags about his sexual experience. (No, this is not a sexist comment, and I think you’ve grasped that; men are statistically more likely to exaggerate their number of sexual partners.) I don’t think asking when they prayed is going to be accurate.
Izzy, as much as I do not understand the logic of religious people, I will go even further with one big question for you to answer about what you said:
“It is not cause and effect we are not saying pray for a pony you get a pony.” and “You pray for strength for someone getting better, for meaning.”
These, on both cursory and more detailed reading, are contradictory sentences which are both asking your imaginary friend to give you or someone else something. I doubt these cases are much different. I’m going to say that from my perspective as an atheist, instead of voting this November, why don’t you be consistent with your beliefs and pray for your favorite candidate. This is not out of an intent to be harsh, although I am EXTREMELY HIGHLY critical of religion; I’m simply pointing out some major inconsistencies in what you’re saying.
It is about hope and faith which I guess you cannot get. I don’t think it is direct cause and effect but rather someone watching over you. I do not believe in pre-destination I will make my own decisions as will everyone else which means sometimes they are the wrong decisions. If you want a change you will have to make it (I say will every intention of voting). But you can hope and pray that something larger than you is on your side. It comes down to faith. If you don’t have any you will be unable to understand. It isn’t meant to be rational if we understood it, it wouldn’t be faith. Which may be a clique answer but it is true. I am not even that religious of a person actually, but I do have faith in something higher.
In response to your response, I have a second question for you:
Hope is something I understand, but I do not understand faith; why do you ‘have faith’ when you have no actual evidence to back it up? And in case you haven’t noticed, the world works on rationality. There is plenty of empirical evidence backing this up. Can I surmise, besides the fact that you seem to be a Christian, that you are not a science student and/or you have no background in the scientific method and its influence on the evaluation of reality?
Pre-destination has absolutely nothing to do with this argument.
I’m going to be blunt: reality does not work the way you think it does. It is not compassionate to anyone. The need for something larger than oneself speaks to those individuals’ probable inherent feeling of helplessness; however, there are ways to not feel helpless without the need for things whose existence has not been proven, and the burden of proof is on the individual who makes the assertion that something exists, because it is impossible to prove that something doesn’t exist. The notion of a deity makes about the same amount of sense as the idea that there is a giant floating teapot on the other side of the sun, which is to say that the notion of a deity is the epitome of nonsense.
I rest my case.