Prayer List

Last updated 7 May 2008
To date, 0 prayers have been evidently answered
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I’ve been openly atheistic for over five years now – since 2003, though I practiced Christianity previously. Since my deconversion, I have found that many religious people are ready and willing to pray for me. It seems to give them great pleasure, and they are convinced it will have some (supernatural) effect on my life.

Early on, I paid little attention to the prayers of others. I had already spent lots of my own time praying. It hadn’t worked for me, so the idea had lost its plausibility. The spell was broken; I had shed my superstition. Sometimes I would laugh at the funny ones. Other times, I would mention something about how prayer has been tested under controlled conditions and failed to have effect. But ultimately, those prayers came and went, forgotten by all involved. What always amazed me was how confident most of them were, despite the obvious. Then I had an idea.

My prayer list is documentation of prayers said on my behalf by people from various religious backgrounds. I have been recording them since late 2005. The purpose of the list is to reveal the inefficacy of petitionary prayer. I want those who pray for me to know that I am paying attention. I will ignore prayer no more. The results of their heavenly appeals are being judged. Their promises are being tested. Their notion of reality is being challenged. It’s time they acknowledge failure.

I realize what I am offering will likely be dismissed by most religious people. Fideism is practically impervious to contrary evidence, especially when it comes from someone else. I am attempting to emphasize confirmation bias by tracking unfavorable, disconfirming results. To draw any useful conclusions concerning the usefulness of prayer, it is important to be objective. The successes and failures must be regarded equally.

Many will claim that I have prejudice against the supernatural and that I can’t or won’t be fair. The fact is, I care greatly about what is true. I want my view of reality to be as clear as possible. My devotions are to truth and reason, not atheism. If one or more of the prayers I have recorded is answered, then I will have evidence for it. The details of an answered prayer will necessarily determine just how good that evidence is. Prayers that are vague or ambiguous, or include requests for acts which might occur naturally or probably, simply aren’t impressive. My prayer list is replete with such examples. Specific details matter.

Consider this: Whether prayer works or not, I benefit from keeping this list. Either way, I have evidence.

I would prefer to have my prayer list on this blog. Due to the difficulties with the WordPress editor, I chose to store it at Geocities instead. If you want to comment on any of the prayers, or the list itself, or even add your own prayer, feel free to do so in the comments below.

If you plan to leave a prayer, I ask that you include your age, sex, location, religion, and denomination along with the prayer. This extra information makes the list more interesting; to know what kind of people are praying.