I have struggled with finding an adequate expression of sorrow and desire to help without resorting to “I will pray for you.” I typically say “I will be thinking about you,” which comes across as somehow less to my ears. The sentiment is the same, but I worry that it rings hollow to a believer’s ear.

Please forgive my reactionary comment. I broke my own rule; of engaging in discussion with those who are so dogmatically closed minded that they claim absolute certainty of the nature of the universe. To me, you are no different than a religious zealot… in fact, you are a diametrically opposing mirror image of one. You are so certain of the nature of things. I wish you could see that there are merits to many of the diverse viewpoints of human beings; that no one/group of us can claim monopoly on truth, and that there are workings of the universe that we will never truly have the capacity to comprehend. I respect the truly faithful for their embrace of that fact.

p.s. – It’s kind of ridiculous that you are making me out to be someone who is arguing that one should only think/pray about help coming to others from outside instead of actually doing something about it. Of course that is absurd.

But bear with me as I try to interact with your ideas.

I don’t really understand this–”[prayer] is more about God involving us in the process of help and healing,” if God doesn’t ‘use’ our help. What’s coming to mind are those little grocery carts children can push to *feel* like they’re helping shop.

And this–”Were it not for prayer, then we and God would be entirely separate”–I don’t really get because if He’s aware of all things always, he’s aware of (and so not coldly separate from) your consciousness.

And I see the value in this–”…nor does He want us to be separate from the pain of those in Haiti or elsewhere,” but this exclusively benefits the believer, no? In terms of increasing his or her sympathetic capacity?

But believers aren’t praying to increase their sensitivity to the problems of others, are they? Don’t they pray to alleviate the problem for the sufferer?

Here’s the headline and teaser:

Non-Christians need not apply
World Vision hires only Christians under its $250 million in US government foreign aid grants. Obama promised to change that. So why hasn’t he?

God was looking when disaster struck Haiti, he doesn’t need to be persuaded to help, and human teamwork does not intensify his blessings. He alone is all-powerful and self-sufficient.

So why does God want us to pray? Simply because praying connects us both to God and to those in need. It is not about us trying to persuade Him to help, when he already knows and understand their pain. Instead it is more about God involving us in the process of help and healing. Were it not for prayer, then we and God would be entirely separate. He does not want that, and nor does He want us to be separate from the pain of those in Haiti or elsewhere. Prayer is part of His solution to both problems.

If the question was posed by a believer, I’d prefer that the believer do something to help, because it’s a win-win. As the one in need, my needs are met, and for the one helping, it is a work of faith that helps prove and build the faith of the believer and actively do the will of God.

Well, glad to learn that you don’t mind! I wouldn’t want to form a belief system without your permission. (-:

Actually, such freedom is granted by/in the U.S. Constitution. Thankfully, it’s not up to us (or shouldn’t be) to mind or not mind what other people do and say.

Explain “pop atheism”? Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris. Thousands (if not more) websites that present their best-selling point of view. Pop=popular. The extremely popular form of atheism that, at the moment, is leading in popularity. No, it doesn’t make it the only or sole kind, just the kind one is 99.9 percent likely to encounter at any one moment these days.

You keep listing ideas and words that annoy you. In a free society (or pretty much free, like ours), people are free to do and say things we may not like. There are a lot of things that irk me, too, but there’s no Irk Clause in our founding document, so I guess we simply have to learn to live with behavior we may not approve of, so long as no laws are being broken.

I don’t ask atheists, pop or otherwise, to think as I do. Meanwhile, I’m forever being asked not to mention “god,” to keep my Bible to myself, and so on. Am I wrong to sense a little bit of irony in that?