# Do non-believers prayers count? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 17, 2007, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-non-believers-prayers-count/396378 "2007-03-17T23:28:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-non-believers-prayers-count/396378/41 "2007-03-19T22:01:30Z")
[QUOTE=Triskadecamus] Christians won’t say, “Well, I will, if your friend is a good Christian, but prayers for heathens are a waste of time.” [/QUOTE] I see no problem at all praying for a non-Christian. [QUOTE=FriarTed] There is a hardcore Christian view that we only can get to God through Jesus, so we must address our prayers through Him. That led to an unfortunate comment from the head of the Southern Baptist Convention, Bailey Smith, around 1979-1980, that was sound-bited into “God does not hear the prayers of a Jew”. But Jesus, to continue my analogy, is not that harsh a postal inspector. [/QUOTE] Jesus is God, so praying to God goes to Jesus, Father, Holy Spirit simultaneously, Jesus delivers the message to the Father, as the Father is God, which it is (also) addressed to. So I would say a open prayer to ‘God’ does get heard, assuming there is some level of faith. Praying to false gods - such as pagan gods open the door to it being heard by demonic forces, which may answer it. As a Christian I don’t think it’s wise ask anyone to pray to a false god. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-non-believers-prayers-count/396378/42 "2007-03-19T22:11:02Z")
[QUOTE=kanicbird] If you absolutely don’t beleive in a God and you are just praying because a friend asked you to, you are basically giving lip service, and **God doesn’t take that from anyone** , believer or not. [/QUOTE] (My bold.) How do you know that? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-non-believers-prayers-count/396378/43 "2007-03-19T22:15:13Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] Would you tell someone you’re praying for them if you weren’t, or would you sidestep it altogether? “Pray for me, Tris!” “Dude…I’ll be thinking of you.” I mean, you can care about someone without lying about something like that. [/QUOTE] That’s more or less what I say - more exactly, you’ll be in my thoughts. It’s never caused a problem. I get the impression that most people who ask for prayers know that they won’t work - which means they won’t change anything. By the way, **Harmonious Discord** , not all religions sentence those who believe differently to hell or even to any different endpoint from believers. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-non-believers-prayers-count/396378/44 "2007-03-19T22:42:36Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] (My bold.) How do you know that? [/QUOTE] Though I can’t find it now, I’m pretty sure it’s in scriptures. Along with praying for show - if you are doing this God assumes you got your reward already that being attention. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-non-believers-prayers-count/396378/45 "2007-03-20T01:56:19Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] Who is this directed to? [/quote] Anyone who feels like addressing it. At some point, one has to form an arbitrary opinion of the nature of the deity which one expects and hopes will receive the prayer. Zeus and Apollo were sincerely worshipped by millions of people for hundreds of years. Were the temples and prayers and sacrifices all in vain? What’s the basis for claiming similar deference to Yahweh works? And this isn’t some derisive “flying spaghetti monster” or “invisible pink unicorn” question. The only thing separating a devout member of the Greek Orthodox Church and a devout worshipper of Apollo is a few hundred years. Arguably, it could have been as little as living in different neighborhoods of Byzantium. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-non-believers-prayers-count/396378/46 "2007-03-20T13:08:50Z")
As I see it;if God knows all things and is a Good Father there would be no need for prayer. No good father would give his offspring any thing that would harm them or withhold anything that would be for the person’s benifit no matter how many people begged in the person’s behalf. so prayer is really a lack of Trust in God. Some say God said “No” if their prayers are unanswered so if God justs gives what he knows is benificial then prayer is not necessary. Jesus own prayers were not answered, He prayed that people would all be one and yet the Christian faith is the most divided of all religions. Allowing a Satan to take people away from Him doesn’t make sense to me. It makes Satan out to know more than God. Monavis ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-non-believers-prayers-count/396378/47 "2007-03-20T14:37:00Z")
It is possible to know that what you do will not succeed, yet still choose to do it. It doesn’t mean you know less, it means winning is not everything. Actually, winning on matters of the physical world is nearly nothing. Tris [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-non-believers-prayers-count/396378.md?page=2)