Comment on Prayer by ZZTrujillo
What I, in general, am referring to here is the use of prayer when something occurs, like a natural disaster or a terror attack. Many people I know who are Christian find prayer to help the situation. They find that praying for people to get better or for less people to die will actually solve the problem. Though the situation is not actually resolved, they feel better that they at least prayed for those who are injured and dying. Now I think it would be rather arrogant for me to view ALL religious people like this, as I am sure many do help out when the time comes, but this was mostly in reference to people I know personally who do this kind of thing. Who would rather sit home and pray that things get better rather than physically doing something about it. Also, I am sure real prayer, honest prayer, is so private and personal that asking if I listen to the content of people's actual prayers is ridiculous. I am speaking about prayers people post on Facebook or Twitter. The shitty prayers which, as I state above, are there simply to make someone feel good for doing nothing.
Most of what you have listed above is missing the point I am making. Your 'question' asking if the list you gave "sound like prayer going hand in hand with doing nothing?" is missing the point of what I was saying. The actual act of prayer is nothing. By this I mean it is not an action; it is wishing on a star. What becomes of that nothing, however, is someone feeling better. Safety, Strength, Courage, Victory etc.
Your suggestion of the placebo effect is quite an interesting one. I am well aware of the placebo effect. And though it has been shown to work sometimes, I think it would be quite irresponsible to use this in lieu of actual medical help, much like how it would be silly to opt for prayer in lieu of actual physical action. Praying for all the cancer to go away or starving children to be fed isn't going to actually lead to these outcomes, but it will make one feel like they did something to help someone else. It gave the person praying strength, but that doesn't mean much to those still starving or dying.
TL;DR
Do you view religious people as people who do nothing but pray a large percentage of the time?
Not all of them, no.
Did you ever really listen to the content of everyday prayers?
Only ones which are made public.
Did you ever research the placebo effect?
Yes.
If you've ever read studies about that, and a connection between that and religion, I'd love to know what you found and where.
I haven't read any studies which specifically made connections between this and religion, but found a few opinion pieces which either connected them, implied them, or spoke about the danger of placebos.
Most of what you have listed above is missing the point I am making. Your 'question' asking if the list you gave "sound like prayer going hand in hand with doing nothing?" is missing the point of what I was saying. The actual act of prayer is nothing. By this I mean it is not an action; it is wishing on a star. What becomes of that nothing, however, is someone feeling better. Safety, Strength, Courage, Victory etc.
Your suggestion of the placebo effect is quite an interesting one. I am well aware of the placebo effect. And though it has been shown to work sometimes, I think it would be quite irresponsible to use this in lieu of actual medical help, much like how it would be silly to opt for prayer in lieu of actual physical action. Praying for all the cancer to go away or starving children to be fed isn't going to actually lead to these outcomes, but it will make one feel like they did something to help someone else. It gave the person praying strength, but that doesn't mean much to those still starving or dying.
TL;DR
Do you view religious people as people who do nothing but pray a large percentage of the time?
Not all of them, no.
Did you ever really listen to the content of everyday prayers?
Only ones which are made public.
Did you ever research the placebo effect?
Yes.
If you've ever read studies about that, and a connection between that and religion, I'd love to know what you found and where.
I haven't read any studies which specifically made connections between this and religion, but found a few opinion pieces which either connected them, implied them, or spoke about the danger of placebos.
Thanks for your reply. Sorry I spent so much my time missing the point and wasting yours 
, but I'm glad something I said in all that turned out to be interesting at least. Your reply was interesting to read also, and I'm glad everything stayed civil from the beginning. So often, discussions like this erode to 
name-calling, but it never happened.
Also, I totally would not have been offended if you'd explicitly said way too many people just pray and do nothing... the picture kind of implies that, so... yeah...
And yeah, placebos totally should not be used in place of actual treatment. If simply changing one's mind, while doing absolutely nothing else actually increases the body's potency against deadly bacteria by 4%, well, that's actually an amazing thing that that's possible, and if the battle is close enough, that could save your life, but... if medicine improves that by 80% I think I'd rather have the medicine, side effects or no. And of course if the 4% stacks with the 80% I'd want that 4% too!
, but I'm glad something I said in all that turned out to be interesting at least. Your reply was interesting to read also, and I'm glad everything stayed civil from the beginning. So often, discussions like this erode to name-calling, but it never happened.Also, I totally would not have been offended if you'd explicitly said way too many people just pray and do nothing... the picture kind of implies that, so... yeah...
And yeah, placebos totally should not be used in place of actual treatment. If simply changing one's mind, while doing absolutely nothing else actually increases the body's potency against deadly bacteria by 4%, well, that's actually an amazing thing that that's possible, and if the battle is close enough, that could save your life, but... if medicine improves that by 80% I think I'd rather have the medicine, side effects or no. And of course if the 4% stacks with the 80% I'd want that 4% too!
Thank you for staying civil as well! I agree that far too many internet interactions turn to name calling and random insults. That never gets one anywhere! I'm glad this was not one of those interactions haha
And yeah. I wanted to make it clear what I meant to say. I felt the typography spoke for itself, but if you had a problem understanding it, I wanted to make sure you understood where I was coming from in detail.
Exactly right. I find people put far too much faith in faith.
And yeah. I wanted to make it clear what I meant to say. I felt the typography spoke for itself, but if you had a problem understanding it, I wanted to make sure you understood where I was coming from in detail.
Exactly right. I find people put far too much faith in faith.
You and that Todd fellow just restored some of my hope in people.
It is always good to see other people who can have a mature and civil conversation, and I do not mean just on the internet.
It is always good to see other people who can have a mature and civil conversation, and I do not mean just on the internet.