# Nonbelievers: How do you feel about people praying for you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 23, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849 "2009-10-23T13:34:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Bright\_Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cdc98d/32.png) [@Bright\_Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bright_Life)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/81 "2009-11-19T15:07:08Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > A psychictelegram is the intent made smoke and ethereal. These movements are the same action in relative terms, they are the shemical to the physical.. catalytic… a difference in quantum spin… to quote The Fixx, [One Thing Leads to Another](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzymBKGV8rw&feature=PlayList&p=9B7ECCF1EAB1CE02&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=3). Please forgive me if I am in error. I’m quite new here. But to confirm…you’re kidding, right? ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/82 "2009-11-20T01:21:41Z")
[QUOTE=devilsknew] A psychictelegram is the intent made smoke and ethereal. These movements are the same action in relative terms, they are the shemical to the physical.. catalytic… a difference in quantum spin… to quote The Fixx, One Thing Leads to Another. [/QUOTE] > [@Bright\_Life](#): > > Please forgive me if I am in error. I’m quite new here. But to confirm…you’re kidding, right? Uhhh… no, not kidding. The act of prayer, although seemingly insubstantial and non-physical (Yin) is of the same value and perhaps more, as a seemingly, more physical proactive action (Yang). They are part of a larger whole. A small psychic action of intent leads to large actions relative. A drop of water always finds itself through the dirt to the root. Consider [Chapter 11 of the Tao Te Ching](http://www.wussu.com/laotzu/laotzu11.html), [or Chapter 43](http://www.wussu.com/laotzu/laotzu43.html): [QUOTE=] Thirty spokes share the wheel’s hub; It is the center hole that makes it useful. Shape clay into a vessel; It is the space within that makes it useful. Cut doors and windows for a room; It is the holes which make it useful. Therefore profit comes from what is there; Usefulness from what is not there. (translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English) [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/83 "2009-11-20T02:18:27Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > In a similar situation, people studying their ancestry are sometimes dismayed to find that the Church of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons) have baptized their long-dead ancestors to make them Mormons. I think the plan is that Mormons are supposed to marry other Mormons, but converting the fiancee’s ancestors to Mormonism is a way to do that, or some such. > > But, how can this be a problem? If it’s an empty gesture, it’s an empty gesture. But on the off chance that they’re right, and this actually accomplishes something, you’d want them to, right? I mean, if they can actually make the departed soul a Mormon, because Mormonism is the truth, then everyone wins, right? Except that there is always the possibility that the ritual works to make you a Mormon, **and** becoming a Mormon turns you away from the true path of righteousness, and will cause you to burn in hell forever. On to the OP: I hesitated between the second (I don’t believe in prayer, and I don’t care whether people pray for me or not.) and the third option (I don’t believe in prayer, but I think it’s a nice, though useless, gesture.) and I picked number two, but I could just as well have picked three. It is a nice gesture in the sense that if people are praying for comfort or good health or whatnot then they are kindly disposed towards me. On the other hand I don’t think the prayer itself will make any difference to my life in any way so in that sense I don’t care if they do it or not. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/84 "2009-11-20T02:20:11Z")
> [@blinkie](#): > > How come you don’t have a catagory “I believe in prayer but I don’t want someone praying on my account.” Maybe because the poll says that it is meant for nonbelievers? ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/85 "2009-11-20T03:55:01Z")
I don’t care if people pray for me; I don’t care if people tell me they’ve prayed for me. It’s the ones who go beyond step #2 that crank me off. “Yes, yes, I heard you. Whaddaya want, a cookie?” ---
**Author:** ![Bright\_Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cdc98d/32.png) [@Bright\_Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bright_Life)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/86 "2009-11-20T15:15:44Z")
Oh dear. Devilsknew, you and I have very different ideas on what is to be considered valid evidence. But should the time ever come, please proceed with the assumption that I am already Yin-heavy. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/87 "2009-11-20T18:27:44Z")
> [@Bright\_Life](#): > > Oh dear. > > Devilsknew, you and I have very different ideas on what is to be considered valid evidence. But should the time ever come, please proceed with the assumption that I am already Yin-heavy. I am not disagreeing with you, I am just not so flip about prayer, like I said they are just two self supporting sides of a larger whole and to discount one is to discount the other- Tangible help or sustenance, could be considered the fulfillment or answer to a prayer… and who is to say that some small stirring of prayer or psychic intent didn’t lead, through various unknown or unseen cause and effect chains, to an emergence from the chaos of an actual miraculous or mundane working. ---
**Author:** ![Gesturing\_Mildly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/65b543/32.png) [@Gesturing\_Mildly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gesturing_Mildly)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/88 "2009-11-20T19:36:19Z")
> [@chique](#): > > Whaddaya want, a cookie?" Uh, actually, yes. I would pray much more often if people gave me cookies for it! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/89 "2009-11-21T01:44:58Z")
I’m a really good Pray-er. I’d really pray the shit out of a prayer for some tollhouse… ---
**Author:** ![Bright\_Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cdc98d/32.png) [@Bright\_Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bright_Life)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/90 "2009-11-21T16:36:12Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > I’m a really good Pray-er. I’d really pray the shit out of a prayer for some tollhouse… Try Publix. It’s closer than Heaven. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/91 "2009-11-22T05:21:01Z")
> [@Bright\_Life](#): > > Try Publix. It’s closer than Heaven. The answer to my prayers! But alas, Publix is a rich people’s store, I can’t afford it anymore. Heaven is the here and now, that’s as close as any of us are getting to a so-called heaven. Heaven is a made up place. It’s the biggest carrot on the stick of Christianity. Now, if you want to talk about nibbana, well, that’s just a thought away. ---
**Author:** ![Bright\_Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cdc98d/32.png) [@Bright\_Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bright_Life)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/92 "2009-11-22T20:16:42Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > The answer to my prayers! But alas, Publix is a rich people’s store, I can’t afford it anymore. > > Heaven is the here and now, that’s as close as any of us are getting to a so-called heaven. Heaven is a made up place. It’s the biggest carrot on the stick of Christianity. Now, if you want to talk about nibbana, well, that’s just a thought away. It _is_ a rich person’s store. Saturday mornings, though, manna falls from Heaven in the form of sample kiosks down damn near every aisle of Publix. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/93 "2009-11-23T04:13:01Z")
Yea, I’m a big fan of Publix’s extraordinary[Apron’s Program](http://www.publix.com/aprons/about/ApronsProgram.do).They have a couple of dedicated part time chefs that prepare really innovative, very tasty, and simple meals in their dedicated demonstration kitchen. Oh, the samples: burnt offerings in the afternoon. I would love to be a publix Apron’s chef, or a test kitchen recipe innovator, seems right up my alley and melds with my culinary philosophy… I respect the Apron chefs, I’ve chattted with a couple. A Lady and a man, I surreptitiously quizzed him on Montreal Steak seasoning, he faltered but answered honestly. How do I apply under section \*8 status… do I even have a chance? I have nearly ten years restaurant experience, however, I have never cooked. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/94 "2009-11-23T04:35:22Z")
I mean… I’ve cooked, a lot, just not professionally, I was on the customer servce end. But I’ve been a good cook since 12. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/95 "2009-11-23T05:37:33Z")
Well, I was on grill for nearly 4 years and a crew trainer. Bürgerman ---
**Author:** ![Bright\_Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cdc98d/32.png) [@Bright\_Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bright_Life)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849/96 "2009-11-24T00:25:16Z")
You were in a kitchen once? 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-do-you-feel-about-people-praying-for-you/514849.md?page=4)