Question for atheist: The need of prayer

[valenzuela]

Im an atheist, but sometimes I wish I believed in God. Sometimes I feel the need to pray, does this happen to any of you? I sometimes have to fight my wishes of praying.
How do you atheist handle those wishes,do some of you just pray or do you simply not get the desire to belive in God.

[ChrisV]

No, I just never desire to believe. Maybe if my life was tougher, I would. I don't know.

It's likely to be partly cultural - if you're around people who believe in God and pray all the time, you're likely to regard it as normal behaviour.

[furyshade]

i think praying is just a form of expressing personal desires, the fact that religious people ask these prayers of god is their choice, but anyone can hope a certain event happens, and possibly this desire will motivate them to strive for the event. i don't think prayer is necessarily religious unless you are directing it towards a divinity.

[jogger08152]

I'm not an atheist, but the agnostic's prayer made sense to me once upon a time. It runs along these lines: Dear God, if there is a God, save my soul, if I have a soul.
-Jogger

[furyshade]

it depends what you define as prayer, i've always assumed it was an intense desire for something to happen, i guess by the definitions elluded to in other posts i don't pray

[Prodigy54321]

whenever I feel the need to pray for something to occur, I instead take that time to actually work towards making that something occur.

praying is simply rude.

[luckyme]

[ QUOTE ]
How do you atheist handle those wishes,do some of you just pray or do you simply not get the desire to belive in God.


[/ QUOTE ]

I've been in several near death situations, including loading the women and children into the only lifeboat on a burning ship ( and worse). Never experienced a twinge of desire to pray.
I'm not sure how some situation I'm in could bring on a belief in something that I can't find evidence for when things are going well.
Sorta, "well, this sucks... That means there is a god, on my knees." or ??

luckyme

[ChrisV]

That "and worse" intrigues me. Maybe you should write a life story post.

[luckyme]

[ QUOTE ]
That "and worse" intrigues me. Maybe you should write a life story post.

[/ QUOTE ]

'and worse' merely reflects that a burning boat is actually a rather stable situation compared to, say, being thrown out of a cornering car when a door flies open, or having a mine ore car land on you,or falling through river ice, etc.

We each have unique experiences, they may give us different perspectives but no claim to 'truths'. Here, I was just responding to a direct question of what we had experienced re prayer desires. I'm a classic 'atheist in a foxhole'.

luckyme

[yukoncpa]

[ QUOTE ]
I've been in several near death situations, including loading the women and children into the only lifeboat on a burning ship ( and worse). Never experienced a twinge of desire to pray.
I'm not sure how some situation I'm in could bring on a belief in something that I can't find evidence for when things are going well.
Sorta, "well, this sucks... That means there is a god, on my knees." or ??

luckyme



[/ QUOTE ]

I’ve also just recently been in two near death events. One where a recalcitrant husband hunted me down with the purpose of murdering me, but when he missed, he put the gun to his own head and killed himself. ( In my defense, I didn’t know the woman was married ). The other, when I recently was drunk and slammed into a car carrying two children. This second is changing my life. I’m no longer on any moral high ground whatsoever. I did a horrible thing and I will pay for it and I will move on and never again put a human being in danger. But in my AA meetings, I’m supposed to accept a higher being, but I simply can’t. I will bear the burden myself and overcome it myself. I simply can’t bring myself to pray to what I don’t believe.

[DCopper04]

[ QUOTE ]
whenever I feel the need to pray for something to occur, I instead take that time to actually work towards making that something occur.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you really do that, or are you just saying that you do that?

[ChrisV]

[ QUOTE ]
But in my AA meetings, I’m supposed to accept a higher being, but I simply can’t. I will bear the burden myself and overcome it myself.

[/ QUOTE ]

http://www.rational.org/

[Nielsio]

[ QUOTE ]
Im an atheist, but sometimes I wish I believed in God. Sometimes I feel the need to pray, does this happen to any of you? I sometimes have to fight my wishes of praying.
How do you atheist handle those wishes,do some of you just pray or do you simply not get the desire to belive in God.

[/ QUOTE ]


This seems dualistic. Praying assumes there is something to pray to.

Is not praying to an invisible friend a sign of solitude?

As humans, we have a strong need to share our experiences (pain and hapiness) with others. There are four things one can turn to:

First is the parent. Second is the friend (chosen confidant). Third is the self (inner strength). Fourth and last resort is the imagined companion.

[Ben K]

[ QUOTE ]
Im an atheist, but sometimes I wish I believed in God. Sometimes I feel the need to pray, does this happen to any of you? I sometimes have to fight my wishes of praying.
How do you atheist handle those wishes,do some of you just pray or do you simply not get the desire to belive in God.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just pray. It doesn't mean god exists because you pray. Prayer is just vocalising to yourself your problems. Presenting your problems to yourself will often help you solve them. If using the term god is awkward, talk to your mum in your mind or whomever. It doesn't matter as much as the process you're going through.

However, everything you can achieve through prayer you can achieve through meditation or other relaxation techniques. You could try that.

[MaxWeiss]

Yeah, it's be nice it there was a god, and Heaven would be wonderful! If only! I've never had the desire to pray, but I often get anxious about how much good I am doing for others and what general benefit to humanity I am doing. I mean, if there's no "ultimate purpose" then **gasp** I guess I have to create my own purpose in life. But yeah, sometimes that's difficult.

[Prodigy54321]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
whenever I feel the need to pray for something to occur, I instead take that time to actually work towards making that something occur.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you really do that, or are you just saying that you do that?

[/ QUOTE ]

I should have said "I instead try to take that time..."

I certainly don't do it every time.

the point that I was trying to make is that prayer is worthless..you do a disservice to yourself or others (depending on the specific "target" of your prayers) by praying...

If a friend is having a rough time at a point in their life, it would be terribly inconsiderate of me to pray for them...in cases like this, I try to actually help them out.

I try to do it as much as I can, for instance, my family has a tendency of saying grace before meals...I acknowledge the tradition, but I rather thank the people who made the meal and telling my family how much I appreciate them, rather than giving the credit to a being that doesn't exist.

then again, my family (especially my extended family) doesn't appreciate me doing this...they're quite rude I'd say. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Silent A]

[ QUOTE ]
I try to do it as much as I can, for instance, my family has a tendency of saying grace before meals...I acknowledge the tradition, but I rather thank the people who made the meal and telling my family how much I appreciate them, rather than giving the credit to a being that doesn't exist.

then again, my family (especially my extended family) doesn't appreciate me doing this...they're quite rude I'd say. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I've got this weird image in my head:

Mom makes her child a meal.
The child politely says, "Thanks Mom".
"Don't thank your mother!", his father says angrily.

[madnak]

You don't have to pray to God, per se. Prayer and monotheism aren't as closely intertwined as many people believe. But if an image of God helps you focus yourself spiritually, I highly recommend going with that. Being an atheist doesn't mean going it alone and refusing to acknowledge your emotions. Personally I think the rational approach is to acknowledge and accept your emotions - suppressing them because they are inconvenient strikes me as almost indicative of superstition.

[bocablkr]

Never had the desire to pray. Have 'wished' for certain things to happen.