Prayer is not the Answer

Whenever we are struck with a great tragedy as a society, often, many people turn to religion for answers or salvation. The recent events at Virginia Tech are no different. Perhaps the grief from the situation is temporarily resolved and there is some benefit to the individuals doing the praying - but even if this is the case, it's an internal phenomenon.

It's relevant to revisit last years study on prayer, a review of which was published in the New York Times : Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer

The findings of the study? We'll, obviously, prayer has zero effect. Ask any compulsive gambler who thinks he can will the dice, sure it might feel like if you think hard enough you can effect some outcome, but the truth is, you can't.

Of course, "people of faith", tend to respond the same way charlatans have responded for years when the rub is exposed. They say something along the lines of, the act of observing the phenomenon interferes as if prayer is some spiritual double slit experiment.

We can do better. Instead of praying, why don't we meditate on strategies to improve our society. We're still murdering people and animals everyday with no thought whatsoever. A little introspection goes much farther that a hundred congregations full of hot "prayer".