Well, in fairness, I think that may be done in order to prevent anyone from getting inujured during the game. It does not actually do anything because people are always getting hurt during the game, but it makes them feel good, I guess. Unless they are praying to win - in which case both teams are appealing to the same God - what does he/she do - flip a coin? Listen to any of the (US) Olympic athletes - esp the track team - they gave thanks to God for helping them win.
What about in politics? Whenever something bad happens you always hear the president say somesuch “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families…”. It’s like if a politician or anyone in the public eye cannot ever NOT say something about prayer in those situations.
Praying is just hoping. And when what you hope for comes true, it makes you feel good. Christians refer to this as the “power of prayer.” When what you hope for doesn’t come true, you don’t feel so good. Christians call this, “God works in mysterious ways,” which, for some reason makes Christians feel good too.
There’s something in there about the innocence of the self-deluded, but I can’t quite pin it down.
And cheetahs run faster than chocolate chip cookies but are not necessarily spottier.
Seriously, although as noted I’m a non-praying person myself, I have never understood how the quoted remark was supposed to say anything meaningful about prayer. AFAICT, even the most ardent advocates of “the power of prayer” don’t claim that it produces immediate results in the form of a tangible substance, the way that shitting does. So why bother pointing that out?
Eh. This seems like a rather lame pitting — a religious figure grows ill and religious persons state an intention to pray? They’re not advocating forced prayer; they’re not giving credit to god instead of the doctor for someone who gets better; they’re not even claiming that the prayer is somehow necessary or effective medical treatment. They’re offering good vibes.
Wake me when someone does something objectionable.
The metaphor only has force insofar as the comparison applies. If a religious person doesn’t believe that prayer will have the tangible, real-world result (say) of coercing God to cure someone’s illness, then comparing it to shitting misses the point.
