People pray for lots of things.  I could pick any one of them but, as I said, lately there are lots of people praying for me because of my cancer, so I'll try to take a look at it from that perspective, at least to start.

     First, there is the proclamation by the faithful that "prayer works".  They believe that, through the efforts of prayer, my incurable form of cancer can be cured by the power of God because "with God, all things are possible".  

     Let's take a look at how this works.  They are petitioning God to intervene in some way that will cause my cancer to be eradicated from my body.  They are asking God to cure me of cancer.

     God, I have been taught, is omniscient, which is to say he is all-knowing.  That means he knows everything, including all that has ever happened as well as all that ever will happen.  For instance, if this is true, he knew before he ever created the Earth that I would be born in 1959 and get cancer around the age of 40.  If God knows everything, he also must have known before the Earth was created whether or not he would intervene to cure me of this cancer.

     If God already knew all of this, how does prayer help at all?  It seems to me that God has already predetermined whether or not he will intervene with my health eons ago.  Even if God can change his mind, he must have known way back then that he would change his mind since he knows everything.

     Now think about that.  If you already know that you will or will not do something, and then you do or don't do it just as you knew you would or would not, have you actually changed your mind?  You can only change your mind if you believe you will do something, then don't do it, or if you believe you will not do something and then, instead, do.

     So, if God knows everything, he can't really change his mind, can he?  He can only do what he already knows he will do, or he would already know he's not going to do it.  No changes.  Only life forms like humans, that do not know the final outcome of things, can change their minds.

     So, if God can't change his mind, how does prayer help?  If there is a god, he decided long ago whether or not he would cure me of cancer, with or without any prayers.

     Of course, I've been told that many have been cured by the power of prayer, but I must question, what is the evidence of this?  How do we KNOW that they wouldn't have been cured WITHOUT prayer OR that it was actually the prayer that did it?  Especially considering that god can't change his omniscient mind as explained above.

     The Mayo Clinic, one of the top names in medical research asked this very question.  In a double blind test of the power of prayer, medical subjects were prayed for or not prayed for in groups.  The results in the patients were the same.  The same percentage of patients in both groups were cured or not.  The group prayed for did not have a higher rate of cure than the non-prayed for group, suggesting there is no correlation between cures and prayers or the intervention of a deity.  You can download a complete copy of the study in Adobe Acrobat format by clicking this link: Mayo Prayer Study

     Ok, so based on what I've already said, I don't believe that prayer works, nor that it can.  If there's no god, that's really the end of it.  And even if there IS a god, if he is truly omniscient, as described, he doesn't change his mind based on the pleas and prayers of humans.  He simply can't.  He can only do what he has always known he was going to do.

     Now, since I am also interested in how religion and politics are intertwined, I'd also like to visit the topic of prayer in school.  Of course, I mean public schools; the ones I pay taxes toward.

     There is a movement in the United States by religious fundamentalists that claim we took prayer out of public schools and that everything's been going downhill ever since.  They claim that we need to get prayer back into public schools to get things right again.

     The first thing I'd like to address about this topic is that it is simply a lie that we have taken prayer out of public schools.  Every American Citizen has the right to pray whenever and wherever they like, including public school.  

     What we HAVE taken away is the ability of the government and it's paid employees (in this case public school teachers) to endorse or lead religious activities such as prayer in their classrooms while performing their roles as public school teachers.  

     The reason is simple.  The government is not allowed to endorse any religious beliefs.  I repeat: The Government is not allowed to.  It is wrong and illegal for the government to say there is one god, many gods or no god.  The courts have ruled time and again that the U.S. Constitution demands that the government remain neutral in matters of religion.  Matters of religion are strictly between an individual citizen and his or her own beliefs in that regard.

     Individuals are fully entitled to express their religious beliefs.  However, a public school teacher, in the course of his or her public school teacher duties is, first and foremost, a representative of the government.  When a public school teacher speaks to his or her class, they are an agent and representative of the government, and are required to teach what has been deemed by the government as appropriate and approved.  A teacher, speaking as a teacher, is speaking as a representative of our government.

     Just as most in our country would agree that it is wrong for a public school teacher to tell their class that there is NO god, it is for the exact same reason that it is wrong for that teacher to say that there IS a god.  It is beyond the scope of our government's mandate to impose a religious doctrine on it's citizens.  It is intrusive upon the personal religious views of the individual citizens this government employee is addressing while performing his or her public duties to do so.  The teacher's personal views in the matter of religion simply are not relevant or warranted in the government setting of a public classroom.

     For a teacher to lead a class in prayer to a god, the teacher is saying, in effect, "there is a god".  As the teacher is, while performing his or her duties in the public school, a representative of the government, the government is then saying, in effect, "there is a god".  To the school child in that class who believes there is no god or more than one god, the government is saying, in effect, "you are wrong and the government does not represent you and your religious beliefs".  This is wholly inappropriate in that the government must represent ALL THE PEOPLE equally regarding religion.  The only way to effectively do this is for the government to take NO POSITION in matters of religion.  Neither confirm, endorse nor deny.  Stay neutral.

     That's a plain and simple idea.  There's nothing ambiguous about it at all.

     The idea that everything is taking a turn for the worse since prayer was removed from schools is just another ploy by the religious leaders to make a case where there is none.  There is simply no cause and effect here that can be demonstrated.  

     It's like saying that because mass-murderers all ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as kids, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches lead to mass-murder.  Even if mass-murderers DID eat PB&J sandwiches as children, that doesn't show a correlation between the two, get it?  Do you see how ridiculous it is?  With the prayer/worse argument, there's just as much of a connection - none.  

     At about the same time that the United States was busy taking away the ability for public school employees to lead their classes in religious activities, we were instituting putting "In God We Trust" on our money.  Maybe that's what did it?  We put that on our money and next thing you know, everything started going downhill, so that must be the cause.  Again, ridiculous, but you get the point (I hope).

     Finally, let's look at the motivation behind this idea of instituting prayer as a part of public school life for our children.  Why do the religious leaders want our government employees leading our public school children in prayer?  That's easy to sum up in one word: Indoctrination.

     They want our children to grow up believing there is a god, regardless of that child's or parents' views.  Regardless of the personal beliefs of the child or the family raising that child, they wish to override those personal beliefs with a daily ritual that proclaims there is a god.  Friends, that simply is NOT religious FREEDOM.  That is religious coercion.

     You know, it's very popular these days to ask, "What would Jesus do?"  Let's face it; All of the popular religious organizations that are leading the charge to get prayer into public schools as a daily ritual claim to believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ.  So it's probably valid to see what Jesus has to say on the subject to see if they are truly trying to represent him or their own agenda, don't you think?

     Well, here it is...  Jesus says quite plainly in Matthew 6:1-8 what he thinks of prayer in public:
      
     "Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

     Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

     But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will      reward you.

     And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men.  Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

     But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

     And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

     Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."
      

     Lead by example, they say, and that's what Jesus did.  Every time Jesus wants to pray, he goes off alone to pray by himself.  It's easy to verify.  Just open your bible and read it for yourself.

     Jesus describes perfectly the men and women who are leading the movement in America to get open prayers in school, and describes them aptly as "hypocrites".  They pray out loud, in public on street corners, in congress, in churches and on TV and radio, using lots and lots of words in prayers that go on and on and on, heaping up empty phrases, as Jesus put it.

     Now, if you're a believer, you must ask yourself one question:  Will you follow Jesus or the hypocrites?  

     Will you follow Jesus' advice to pray in secret, or will you follow the hypocrites that have perverted his message and continue to pervert it every single day?  Will you fight alongside them to pray out loud in public schools against Jesus' teachings?  Will you blindly follow the Pharisees?

     Who's right?  Jesus or Jerry Falwell?  Jesus or Pat Robertson?  Jesus or George Bush?  Jesus or John Ashcroft?  Is it really that hard to decide?

     Do the right thing.  Pray wherever and whenever you like without making a big deal of it, quietly and in secret between you and God, as Jesus taught.  Keep the government and the religious leaders from perverting Jesus' teaching and the constitution with open-mouthed, government-led prayer in schools.

     If you pray, please pray for the end of ignorance and superstition.