Even back when I was still a very spiritual person I already had some reservations regarding prayer. Well I did sometimes pray to ask God for things, but deep inside I somehow figured that if God is good and he already knows what’s good – what’s best – for me, I’d rather tell him, “Your will be done” and use prayer as an expression of my overflowing gratitude for all the blessings.
I remember this episode in House, MD where Dr. Cameron was explaining to Dr. House the purpose of prayer:
Cameron: “Do you know why people pray to God?”
House: “I thought you didn’t believe in God.”
Cameron: “I don’t.”
House: “Well, then you better be making a very good point.”
Cameron: “Do you think they pray to Him and praise Him because they want Him to know how great He is? God already knows that.”
House: “Are you comparing me to God? I mean, that’s great, but just so you know, I’ve never made a tree.”
Cameron: “I thank you because it means something to me. To be grateful for what I receive.”
House: “You are the most naive atheist I’ve ever met…. People pray so that God won’t crush them like bugs. I’m not gonna crush you.”
As much as I am generally able to relate more with House’s cynicism than Cameron’s naiveté, as far as prayer goes I’m with Cameron. I guess gratitude comes naturally to some people, and the English poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti even remarked that “the worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank.” It just doesn’t seem very satisfying to thank Blind Luck or Pure Chance for a desirable turn of events; people need to thank someone who willed these events into happening.
This sense of prayerful gratitude is often harmless and nothing more than foolish at worst, but the problem is that the same people who have a strong desire to give thanks to a sentient Being also tend to believe that they can actually influence the will of this Being. And this attitude reeks of arrogance, as explained by fellow freethinker Garrick Bercero in his comments on another post:
I do not deny that most Christians believe that they are being humble in passively accepting the will of a higher power…What I am talking about is that the belief that some people have access to this will is arrogant.
Now this arrogance is sometimes compounded with self-absorption when one is being showered with trivial “blessings” while conveniently turning a blind eye to the great miseries existing elsewhere. But what is even more arrogant is the propensity of these grateful believers to assert that all these sufferings are just part of God’s grand design. And if they are divinely justified, that leaves less reason for humans to be dissatisfied with the undesirable states of affairs happening all around the world and somehow eases the pressure to try do something about them.
On a personal level, one of the salient differences between those who believe in an intervening god and those who don’t has something to do with purpose. For the believer, everything that happens – including the unpleasant things – has a purpose set by God. This brings about a cozy sense of security because our lives are in God’s hands and in the end everything will fall into its rightful place. But for the nonbeliever, purpose comes after the fact; we make a purpose for whatever happens to us so that whenever we lose, we do not lose the lesson. More importantly, we take it as our responsibility to fulfill that purpose.
I remember Poch Suzara‘s rants about how the Philippines, being the only Christian nation in Asia, has become the Sick Man of Asia because its people, instead of taking responsibility for the betterment of their lives, keep waiting for a Sky Daddy to do it for them. And I couldn’t agree more. According to Gallup, “a population’s religiosity level is strongly related to its average standard of living.” Let us take a look at the list of the most religious and least religious countries in the world:
The poll indicates that “8 of the 11 countries in which almost all residents (at least 98%) say religion is important in their daily lives are poorer nations in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
In fairness, religion never really promised earthly wealth (or did it?); it assures one, rather, of an afterlife where everything will be all right – forever. Such concept of eternity easily renders insignificant a couple of decades of life on earth. And for such, many people live on prayer, expecting everything to happen according to God’s plan.
I admire the theists who live by the words “Nasa tao ang gawa, nasa Diyos ang awa” (roughly “God helps those who help themselves”). At least they do not look onto God as a sky daddy or fairy godmother. Up to this point they are no different from the nonbelievers. However, they still expect God to be a protector. And this often leads to a certain level of carelessness because one may get overconfident in the “knowledge” that God will always protect him.
When driving, for instance, a devout Catholic may tend to focus more on the prayer he is reciting for protection while his right hand releases the wheel and reaches out to touch the rosary hanging from the rearview mirror and his eyes leaves the road for a few seconds to glance reverently at the crucifix. But the most convenient part of this “divine protection” is the insurance that if he gets into an accident and dies, it is still part of God’s plan, and he will go to heaven.
Now compare that to the nonbeliever who takes his safety as his own responsibility and keeps both eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel and sets precautions for mechanical failure and reckless drivers. When one lives on the assumption that this life is all there is, he tends to take a little more care of it. After all, it seems the sensible thing to do when one doesn’t have much of a prayer for protection.
I meditate by reciting this:
.nemA .reve rof dna won
sruoy era yrolg eht dna ,rewop eht ,modgnik eht roF
.live morf su reviled dna
lairt fo emit eht morf su evaS
.su tsniaga nis ohw esoht evigrof ew sa
snis ruo su evigroF
.daerb yliad ruo yadot su eviG
.nevaeh ni sa htrae no
,enod eb lliw ruoy
,emoc modgnik ruoy
,eman ruoy eb dewollah
,nevaeh ni rehtaF ruO
Not for worshiping anything or anyone but it is great for meditation. I would like to imagine I am striking back at the sadistic pos god, that is if it exists. The first time I did that, nothing happened, and like prayer, nothing ever happens each time but I still meditate with it imagining, because it will only go that far, that if the sadistic god is real, then it should be obliterated, for humanity, and the more people who does so the more the evil one looses its ability to inflict its cruelty on humanity. Why worship something imaginary, and if real, then it is evil. So I chose to strike back in any way a mere mortal like me can.
The picture in the article says it all. God's priorities are fucked up.
hiya kuya jong, i like this.hmmm.
For me, prayer is a connection to the infinity of Being.
It is not asking for some shit to be fulfilled.
It is not begging to be heard.supplication.
We are in no position to blame God for our sufferings and failures.We box it into a concept .that is arrogance,hubris even.
It is also not gratitude, but recognition of the sanctity of living and being human.
I don't like the way Abrahamic religions "promise" eternal rewards to attract the masses.Especially in the Philippine context, where the poor are taken "care" of by a handful of the clergy whose mission is not really to propagate goodness but to gain political power.this brings a sort of panacea effect, a pain reliever to the stark realities of the human condition.But then this leads to fatalism in the Filipino subconscious.This for me, is wrong on the grounds that it necessarily implies an attitude of despondence.I agree with you that yes, insofar as man does his job, no shitty situation will arise.
I don't believe in a God that could be understood by a analogy.Rather, I believe in a God that cannot be understood by the affirmative.This is apophatic.Major monotheistic religions always posit and assert contentions of God from experience.They contextualize.That is acceptable on some terms, but never absolutely.I, on the other hand, like it abstract,ineffable,indescribable.That is why I write deconstruction poetry.
I believe in a divine Being because I am amazed by the littleness of my own knowledge.
I don't have faith in God in the Christian sense, but yes I believe that there is a Being that holds the centrality,the fulcrum of existence.It is not an immanent-transcendent divinity in the picture that Thomists would give us, but for me : God is meaning and the ultimate Nothing in the emptiness of human existence.Our search for truth and meaning is derided by religion's claims to "divine" knowledge when in fact it is just some half-cooked speculation made by power-hungry warriors of the "Word".
Whatever it is that has meaning and purpose, that is God at work.
I don't like the way unreflective ignorance asserts itself dogmatically.We can never frame a singular and universal concept of God this leads to religious pluralism which has brought about greater suffering to mankind than reason has.What I suggest is to recognize that intellectual humility,honesty and courage would eventually lead to truer wisdom and knowing.And that my friend, is what I call faith. 😉
To channel a bit of Thomas Paine, one common trend I've notice with most organized religions are these assertions:
1. Their God has quite literally revealed its existence to them at one point of time.
2. Only THEY have the legitimacy to interpret what this omniscient being says, which is in turn translated into their religious laws
3. All other interpretations of said being are wrong.
4. It's their moral imperative to spread their beliefs to everybody else, sometimes equates to doing it from the business end of a sword/rifle/torch.
[I don’t like the way Abrahamic religions “promise” eternal rewards to attract the masses.Especially in the Philippine context, where the poor are taken “care” of by a handful of the clergy whose mission is not really to propagate goodness but to gain political power.this brings a sort of panacea effect, a pain reliever to the stark realities of the human condition.But then this leads to fatalism in the Filipino subconscious.This for me, is wrong on the grounds that it necessarily implies an attitude of despondence.I agree with you that yes, insofar as man does his job, no shitty situation will arise.]
Agreed. A morality system entirely derived from a simple reward system feels fickle and immature; people who do good deeds just to get into heaven are no different from a child who tries to be a good boy because of the promise of candy.
the Philippines doesn't figure in the top list of religious countries huh? and what about prayer being used as a way to save souls, or for penance, or to buy one's way into heaven?!!! As someone who prays, I think I do it mainly because it comforts me, sort of like meditation. the gratitude is there yes,but its more of the need for me to commune with God. I certainly don't ascribe to praying to ask Him for favors, or to grant requests.
so how do you call those people who believe and teach that a prayer made by a very sinful man could not be heard (as if he is so far away from GOD due to sins for which he has not yet asked for forgiveness)? they are far more boastful and proud.. since they do not only think that they have access to GOD, they also think that they are far more righteous that their prayers are being heard well, and that their prayers are very important that they have a bigger responsibility when sending prayers to heaven. As if they would help in solving more problems in the world if their petitions were granted by GOD.
@Roland_F
"Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar (means : shut up and pay your taxes) – so religion promised a lot of wealth for the Caesar’s, kings, emperors, and clergy and the RCC is filthy rich and even small religious sects can be very wealthy. The flock on the other hand has to survive on promised riches in the afterlife."
RAmen! That's so true. If you want to really prosper, don't just rely on prayer. There's an open letter in this website that discusses the process on how to create your own religious corporation. You can take advantage of the prayerful flock and rake in the tax-free profits.
// wes says: you cited lists Mongolia as an nonreligious country? isn’t that Dalai Lama-ville? //
Dharamsala (set of the exile Tibetean government) is in northern India not Mongolia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharamsala
// Gabriel Rossetti even remarked “the worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank”. //
Why not thank your parents for being born and for taken care of you as child, the teachers for a good educations, yourself for being successful …etc…
Or like Dan Dennet after his heart surgery who thanked his doctors for the operation, the nurses for their care, the medical scientist for providing the knowledge base, the engineers who provided the medical equipment and so on.
// In fairness, religion never really promised earthly wealth (or did it?) //
Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar (means : shut up and pay your taxes) – so religion promised a lot of wealth for the Caesar’s, kings, emperors, and clergy and the RCC is filthy rich and even small religious sects can be very wealthy. The flock on the other hand has to survive on promised riches in the afterlife.
ameeeen!!!
how many of the worst taxi drivers out there have the most rosaries, scapulars, and stampetas all hanging over their dashboards like it was a lucky charm against accidents. but take a look at the number of dents in their car and you'd know how many accidents those crazy drivers have already been in.
but strange… the Gallup poll you cited lists Mongolia as an nonreligious country? isn't that Dalai Lama-ville? or doesn't it count Buddhism as a religion?