Most atheists were born under a religious family so they were taught to value the religion and do the things that it requires such as attending the sacrament, masses and regular prayer. When was the last time you remembered praying and how was the result? Did you get the answer to your prayer?
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Before I was an atheist, I prayed for many things. I prayed for my sick dog, my mother with cancer, and other hardships. Praying never seemed to help with problems that were outside of my control. About 5 years ago was the last time if I remember correctly.
It's been over 7 years since I've prayed. At the time, I'd left Christianity and had been Neopagan for several years, so I prayed to Isis.
Prayer had a benefit for me at the time. It would calm me at bed time - when I could no longer do anything about a problem - and needed to relax and get some rest.
Of course my prayer was not answered. It was not heard. That's rather the point: no one is listening.
Sometime in my teens, so... eh... oh my... over 20 years ago.
And it wasn't much of a prayer either, "Please, make it so I don't have to do that report in front of all those people."
3 years ago, when I became agnostic, I started to forget how to pray.
The last time I prayed was back before I realized I was an atheist. Even as a Christian, I was never good at praying. It felt pointless, and I didn't feel like anyone(anything) was listening. Or like any god actually cared. Plus, I figured if it was omniscient, it already knew what I would have prayed about, so why bother? I was such a devout christian in my mind at the time, but the more I look back on it, I realize I had a lot of atheist tendencies. Sometimes I wonder if there was ever any way I could have stayed a Christian, or if my mindset is just one that would always lead to atheism
I was 7 years old. It was October, 1962. I wasn't actually sincere about it. My Pop was a bomber pilot in the Air Force and the Cuban Missile Crisis was at hand. My worried Mom made us kids kneel around our coffee table with her to say the entire rosary bead prayer progression twice each evening until the Russians loaded their nukes back up and went home. Of course the prayers did their miracle thingy and all ended well. Talk about a lasting impression of religious lunacy. She meant well.