Praying

1 - Main Point

There are millions of people all over the planet suffering, many in extreme pain, praying for some god's help and not receiving any. Knowing this, praying for such a god to help you is tremendously egotistical.

2 - Reasons for Praying

Here are some of the reasons I can think of for why somebody would believe they will get help from some god through their prayers:

• They believe they deserve help more than a million other people.
• They believe that all those other people are praying to the wrong god, even if they belong to the same religion.
• They believe that all those other people are doing something wrong. (Like sacrificing others in the wrong way.)
• They believe that all those other people deserve the suffering they get.
• They think their god randomly chooses who to help and who to ignore, and that they will win this game.

All of the listed reasons are egotistical.

3 - Others Kinds of Prayer

Of course some people pray not expecting god's help. This is a completely different kind of prayer. I could imagine some people praying in such a way because they believe they have a moral obligation to, or just because they enjoy it. But this kind of prayer is not what this essay is about. This essay is only about the kind of prayer where somebody asks for some god's help and expects to get help in return.

4 - My Questions

If you pray in such a way, expecting that some god will help you, I want to ask you some questions:

• Do you consider yourself special?
• Why do you believe a god will help you?
• Do you ever think about the millions of other people who also pray and never get any help?

Praying, by The Humanoid

• 2005-01-29 - Draft Version 1
• 2006-01-04 - Draft Version 2