I'll pray for you!

QuarkChild said:

Next time my Mom tells me she's praying that I'll pass the Quals, I'm going to ask, "So should I even bother studying?"
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Why not offer to sacrifice a goat in her honor?
 
There really isn't any point in battling your mom over this. It's just Star Wars versus Star Trek.

If she wants to believe in sky daddy and wonder boy, it's her right. She's done so all her life and you will probably never change her mind without some real and sincere trauma. You could start a "little feud" that permanently damaged your relationship with her.

Best not to scratch certain itches. So she says she's "praying" for you. Would it help matters if you simply interpreted it as wishing you "good luck"? Her lucky charm is a little plus sign? So what? She loves you, she's proud of you, and she's showing it in a manner that she's been socially conditioned to since early childhood.
 
evildave said:
There really isn't any point in battling your mom over this. It's just Star Wars versus Star Trek.

If she wants to believe in sky daddy and wonder boy, it's her right. She's done so all her life and you will probably never change her mind without some real and sincere trauma. You could start a "little feud" that permanently damaged your relationship with her.
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I know, I know. I'm sorry if I sounded a bit like Dark Cobra there for a minute. I don't even try to change her mind about Feng Shui or astrology, much less God. I was just venting.
 
Prayer is blasphemy
It's a short article, so I can't quote much of it without quoting it all!
He cannot commune, negotiate, manipulate, persuade, coerce, or otherwise induce his deity to treat his nonbelieving acquaintances differently, without indicating to that deity that he knows better than the deity what should be done with that nonbeliever._ Doing that, he commits blasphemy.
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Could one of you explain why you all seem to get so bent out of shape over someone saying that they'll pray for you? I mean really, even if you don't happen to believe that it will you any good, it certainly doesn't do you any harm.

I think you ought to take such an offer in the spirit that it was likely intended. They're trying to invoke benevolent spirits on your behalf. That their efforts may be in vain doesn't change the fact that there's some nice thought behind it. It's a mean enough world as it is that I'll take all the well wishing I can get, up to and including my image in a bubbling cauldron of blood and urine. (Providing of course the blood isn't human and I don't have stand downwind of the mess.)

I realize that such activities aren’t likely to influence events for or against me, but personally I find the thought that someone might be out their actively exhibiting a desire for my good fortune encouraging. Even if their version of good fortune includes joining them in their faith, their wishing and praying for it doesn’t hurt me, and it’s still a fair sight better than those who go home and start gleefully imagining a place warming for me in hell.
 
NiteOwl said:

I think you ought to take such an offer in the spirit that it was likely intended. They're trying to invoke benevolent spirits on your behalf.
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If all my mother wanted to do was invoke a spirit on my behalf, she could simply *do* so--why make a point of telling me about it? She knows I'm an atheist and that her promises of prayer annoy me, so she isn't telling me about it for my benefit. Under the circumstances, it just sounds self-righteous--"Since you're a godless heathen, I'll have to do your praying for you--at least I know what's good for you, even if you don't." Yes, I'm putting words in her mouth, but that is the intent that comes across.

I'm glad my mother wants me to do well on my tests, but I don't appreciate it when she turns it into an opportunity to tell me that she knows better than I do how to pass them.

(And I really don't appreciate it when she gives the credit for my hard-earned success to a magic spirit.)

I know my mother cares about me and wants me to do well. I appreciate her caring, and if praying for me makes her happy, I have no problem with that whatsoever. I haven't even asked her to stop. All I want is a safe venue (ie, this forum) where I can vent my frustration when I feel condescended to.
 
Originally posted by QuarkChild
"Since you're a godless heathen, I'll have to do your praying for you--at least I know what's good for you, even if you don't."
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If that is truly your mothers’ intent then I’d say you have every right to be annoyed, but I can’t help but observe that Christians tell each other that they’ll be praying for one another all the time.

I also kind of doubt that when you bring home an A she responds with, “God passed your test for you.” In fact I’m not certain on this but if you were able to get the answers through divination I think that might be cheating.

As for why she feels the need to tell you about it, while I can’t speak for your mother, I know that many Christians tell you about it because they’re hoping you’ll take some comfort at the thought. Also I’ve noticed people tend to find prayers more effective if they know they’re being said. I suspect this is because prayer is largely if not entirely a placebo effect and placebo’s are only effective when you know you’re taking something.

If you’re looking for a safe place to vent, then by all means vent away. If I seem a little combative, I assure you it’s nothing personal. I just love a good argument. My original post wasn’t aimed as a criticism specifically at you. I was just curious in general why so many got so actively hostile at being prayed for.
 
Maybe there is one response that will at least dissuade those that prefet to belittle atheists (or agnostics and members of other religions, for that matter).

Christian: I will pray for you.
Atheist: Then I will think for you.

Of course, not the thing to tell someone who really feels for you and simply does express this in his way.
 
Quarkchild Wrote:

Next time my Mom tells me she's praying that I'll pass the Quals, I'm going to ask, "So should I even bother studying?"
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I believe the correct response is: " I think I'll study anyway."

Good luck,

Eric
 
GoodPropaganda said:
Prayer is blasphemy
It's a short article, so I can't quote much of it without quoting it all!

quote:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
He cannot commune, negotiate, manipulate, persuade, coerce, or otherwise induce his deity to treat his nonbelieving acquaintances differently, without indicating to that deity that he knows better than the deity what should be done with that nonbeliever._ Doing that, he commits blasphemy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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This would suggest an interesting response:

X: I will pray for you.

A: Wow...you would risk going to hell just to pray for little ole me? I am so deeply touched...You would blaspheme for me?....
 
NiteOwl said:


If that is truly your mothers’ intent then I’d say you have every right to be annoyed, but I can’t help but observe that Christians tell each other that they’ll be praying for one another all the time.
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Of course. If I was a Christian, it wouldn't bother me a bit. What bothers me is the self-righteous aspect of a Christian telling that to someone s/he knows is an atheist.
I also kind of doubt that when you bring home an A she responds with, “God passed your test for you.” In fact I’m not certain on this but if you were able to get the answers through divination I think that might be cheating.
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So far God hasn't gotten credit for my grades, only for my internship. As far as the cheating thing goes, I totally agree. The purpose of the qualifying exams is to weed out people who are too incompetent to be competitave in the field. If I can't pass the exams on my own, I shouldn't be passing them at all. I wouldn't like to live in a world where incompetent people can get degrees when their god pulls the right strings.

As for why she feels the need to tell you about it, while I can’t speak for your mother, I know that many Christians tell you about it because they’re hoping you’ll take some comfort at the thought. Also I’ve noticed people tend to find prayers more effective if they know they’re being said. I suspect this is because prayer is largely if not entirely a placebo effect and placebo’s are only effective when you know you’re taking something.
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The question here is, why tell an atheist? Do you think I will be more likely to pass the exams now? (Hmm, I'm posting on the JREF forum instead of studying...think think) :)
 
I have a bumper sticker that reads "Don't pray in our schools, I won't think in your church." I sometimes find notes on my windshield, "Please change or you will go to hell" etc.

I got one the other day, though, that said "I will pray in school and I will pray for you." It had little hearts to dot the i, and semed to be written by a (probably female) teenager. (There is a Christian youth center in the plaza in which a had parked.)

I normally just have a laugh at the notes I get, but this one made me kind of sad. I'm not exactly sure why, but I suspect it was because I felt that this girl might be genuinely upset by me (Indirectly).

Don't get me wrong, I don't feel bad about not believing in prayer in school, or even for broadcasting that belief. Normally, like most of the posters here, I react to "I will pray for you" as I would any other statement, that is, according to the context in which it is made. In this case it just made me sad to think that a tennage girl, who probably has a lot of other worries, would also be worried about me.
 
When I first became an atheist I would get a bit annoyed when I heard someone say this. But eventually I decided it was'nt worth it. The pious fundies take the anger as a sign of how lost you are while the genuinely well meaning get their feelings hurt. In other words I just it accepted it as their way showing they care for other people. And I really believe that some of them follow through with this promise. Some of them truly believe they must interscede with their God on your behalf. In the end is'nt that alot better than having some equally well meaning religious person damning you to hell.
 
I dunno, it's according to whether Hell has cable, or not. Obviously not satellite TV, seeing as it's allegedly underground. If the fundies even have that much right about it.

There's no reason to be bothered by the every-day goofiness of religion. So, some people want to let you know they'll be talking to their hands (a sign they know that talking to their god(s) will have no effect on you), and others want to dance in orange robes and bang on tamborines, and still others want to bang on your door and invite you to displace them as one of the "chosen few" for one of their regular impending doomsdays.
 
Nobody has ever offered to pray for me! It's like I'm Satan's earthly conduit or something.
 
Well, I've been called "Satan's Mouthpiece" a couple of times by a couple of different people.

Oh well, making the right people MAD is always better than making the wrong people agree.
 
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