Video: Proof that prayer is a superstition

Rather, "Video: Proof that Marshall Brain is delusional"

Okay, ladies and gentlemen. This is going to be really boring to me. Everything in this video is a complete rehash of everything I've already refuted. However, since this video just came out recently, and Brain is flaunting it around on his website, I figured I'd do a specific critique, both for the viewers of WWGHA and GII and for YouTube as well.

My comments, like always, are in bold.

By watching this short video, you will be able to prove to yourself that the belief in prayer is a superstition. Every answered prayer is a coincidence, nothing more. Let's start by understanding how superstitions work. Well, this oughta be good...Except I wouldn't say a ten minute long video is "short." That would be like two minutes. But that's irrelevant.

Imagine one day that your uncle gives you his lucky horseshoe. He says to you, "This horseshoe has never failed me. Just tell the horseshoe what you want, and it will bring it to you."

This sounds good, but you are a little skeptical. So you decide to try it out.

You take six dice in one hand and the lucky horseshoe in the other. You say, "Lucky horseshoe, give me six sixes!" And you roll the dice.

So think about it. What do you suppose is going to happen? If you are a normal, intelligent person, you know what will happen - chances are that you won't get six sixes because the odds are only one in 46,000 that you will get six sixes. It is not going to happen very often.

Does the lucky horseshoe have any effect on the dice? Does the horseshoe change the odds of getting six sixes? No. The horseshoe has absolutely no effect.

Can we prove it? Yes. We can test it scientifically. We roll the dice thousands of times, invoking the lucky horseshoe each time. We find that the horseshoe has no effect whatsoever on the dice.
Therefore we call the belief in lucky horseshoes a superstition.

Yet testing prayer scientifically is misinterpreting the point of prayer. The only thing these studies prove is that your gumball machine philosophy is faulty (and that will be elaborated on later). Here's why. Since God is under no obligation to answer any prayer, putting the effects of prayer to the test is unreliable. There are too many variables here: were the prayers of these people vague or were they highly specific? Were these people demontratable Christians? What was the reason for the illness? Did the scientists and doctors do everything in their power to correct the problem before God would step in? And so on. Testing the reliability of prayer is like testing the reliability of coin flipping. Intelligent people would never write an article saying, "Coin flipping shows that five flips landed on heads in a row," and as a result, coins landing on tails are "superstition," or, "coincidence." In the same way, truly intelligent people shouldn't use scientific tests to prove answered prayers are "superstition" or "coincidence," because there are always tests that haven't been proven faulty that show the opposite.

In fact, I could give you many more articles where prayer was proven to have an effect and the double blind studies were not proven faulty. Here are some, in fact. So who's right here? We have studies that show prayer doesn't work, and we have studies that show that prayer does work.

A superstition is defined as:

An irrational belief that a magical object or action influences the outcome of
events.

By performing thousands of experiments, we prove that the belief in lucky horseshoes is a superstition.

We can prove that the belief prayer is a superstition in exactly the same way. Let's look at several examples.

Example 1 (I love how he actually says that in the video.)

Imagine that your aunt says to you, "If you pray to God, he will answer your prayers." You ask her the obvious question, "How do you know that?" She says, "I have prayed to God hundreds of times. He always answers my prayers just like he says in the Bible." Then she quotes you two Bible verses.

In Mark 11 verse 24 Jesus says:

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have
received it, and it will be yours."

Of course, no Christian in their right mind would use this verse as evidence that God answers every prayer, ever. As Christians we understand, of course, that this is something called "dramatic orientation." This was quite common in Ancient Near East literature. Take this segment from scholar Rihbany's The Syrian Christ:

A case may be overstated or understated, not necessarily for the purpose of deceiving, but to impress the hearer with the significance or insignificance of it. If a sleeper who has been expected to rise at sunrise should oversleep and need to be awakened, say half an hour or an hour later than the appointed time, he is then aroused with the call, 'Arise, it is noon already...' Of a strong and brave man it is said, 'He can split the earth.' The Syrians suffer from no misunderstanding in such cases. They discern each other's meaning.

The same is true with the Bible. The disciples plainly understood that this was dramatic orientation. Otherwise, it wouldn't be in the Bible. Think about this logically. The moment one of the disciples prayers wasn't answered, he would have doubted God and probably wouldn't have put that verse in there to begin with.

Here's another thing that's interesting to note. Let's assume that Jesus isn't speaking with dramatic orientation here. Let's assume for one moment that he really is speaking literally...Well then, "believe that you have recieved it," is key here. You can pray any old prayer, but if you don't believe God will answer it, He won't. If you don't believe the prayer has been answered, then it hasn't. Interesting...

In John 14, verse 14, Jesus says:

"Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in
the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it."

Same thing. This is dramatic orientation and doesn't give you the right to have every prayer answered.

Another thing to note, however. If it weren't dramatic orientation, notice how it says "that the Father may be glorified." Asking for things that wouldn't glorify God will do nothing. So if you ask for 10 billion dollars to give to a charity, as you've said earlier, it will be God giving you the right to be lazy and do nothing to work for that money and rightfully earn it. Laziness is a sin according to the Bible. God cannot contradict his own nature, therefore he will not answer the prayer.

This seems pretty simple. Of course it would to someone reading the verse like a newspaper written yesterday. Jesus is supposed to be God. God is supposed to be perfect. When God says something, it should be true. Meaning, "Wahh! God is using dramatic orientation, but since I'm a fundy atheist, I'm enterpreting everything literally! God should make an acception for me, because I'm SPECIAL!" Prayer should work. So, you decide to try it out. You pray to God in this way,

"Dear God, please help me to roll six sixes. I have faith that you will answer my prayer as you promise in the Bible. In Jesus' name I pray, amen."

And you roll the dice.

What do you suppose is going to happen? If you are a normal, intelligent person, you know what will happen. Nothing. You will not roll six sixes any more often than normal if you pray. Right. Since those verses were dramatic orientation, we shouldn't expect anything else.

You're also forgetting The Lord's Prayer when you think about this. That clearly sets a bar on what to pray for: "Give us this day our daily bread." Pray for your daily needs, Brain.

We can scientifically prove this. We can roll the dice thousands of times, praying to God each time. We find that prayer has no effect on the dice whatsoever. Note that there's no law of probability for Christians only. I think it's actually a good thing that we all have to adhere to the same laws of nature.

Any intelligent person can see what is happening here. The prayer has exactly the same effect as the horseshoe. That's because the belief in prayer is a superstition, just like the belief in lucky horseshoes. Well, the only way you'll come to that conclusion is if you were delusional. "Oh MAN! My lucky sock made me roll a six in the dice game! Duh ah, I wonder if God will forsake all laws of probability so I can go pout in my corner!"

Understanding example 1

A superstitious person who believes in prayer cannot see that prayers and horseshoes are identical. Instead, a superstitious person clings to the superstition and creates excuses to explain why it does not work.

If you a superstitious person who believes in prayer, you may be trying to develop an excuse right now:

• God doesn't play dice (True, since the Bible instructs to pray for your daily needs)
• Gambling is a sin (True.)
• Thou shalt not test God (True...)
• This prayer is too trivial (True. See the first one)
• You didn't clasp your hands right. Ah, good one...

Can I add one?

• God hasn't promised a positive answer, and you're only thinking that because your a fundy atheist who thinks God doesn't exist because he didn't do your math homework for you when you were seven.

Superstitious people are always making excuses like this. So if I said, "My lucky sock has never told me that God doesn't exist. If you disagree, you're just making excuses," is that okay?

Instead of making excuses for the superstition, Here is the imporant thing to understand: Prayer has exactly the same effect as a horseshoe. Doubt it. Because God doesn't intervene on your behalf at all times is no argument against prayer.

The perfect equivalence between prayer and horseshoes is undeniable. Somehow I doubt it.

Example 2

What if we try this prayer instead:

Dear God, we pray to you to cure every case of cancer on this planet tonight. We
pray in faith, knowing you will bless us as you promise in the Bible. In Jesus'
name we pray, Amen.

This is an important prayer. Millions of people die of cancer every year (I fixed your link, Brain). There is lung cancer, brain cancer, Colon cancer, skin cancer and all the rest. We pray sincerely, knowing that when God answers this completely heartfelt, unselfish, non-materialistic prayer, it will glorify God and help millions of people in remarkable ways. Well isn't that nice of you...However, just like the last one, this prayer is prayed under the assumption that God will answer every prayer according to the Bible. This assumption is a fallacious one.

What do you suppose is going to happen? Will God reach down and eliminate all the cancerous cells? If you are a normal, intelligent person, you know what will happen. Nothing. This prayer will have no effect whatsoever.

Why wouldn't God do such a thing, you ask? Well, for one, it would in fact reveal himself in a way that he'd not intended to do so: The Bible clearly demonstrates a hidden God. Two, it would be God telling everyone, "Hey! I'll solve all your problems for you so you can sit around and do nothing." Yet again, laziness is a sin. Third, it would put hundreds of thousands of people out of jobs that they'd worked for years and years to obtain.

Here is the interesting thing. If you ask a lucky horseshoe to cure every case of cancer, the exact same happens. "My lucky sock hasn't told me that God doesn't exist!"

Prayer has exactly the same effect as a horseshoe. The belief in prayer is a superstition.

If you a superstitious person who believes in the power of prayer, you are making excuses right now. You might be thinking "That prayer is too big." or "It would be too obvious for God to answer this prayer." or "God intends for us to suffer." "If you're making excuses about my sock, that must mean you're superstitious." Why in the world are you using a lucky horseshoe in a philosophical piece? Good grief.

However, The perfect equivalence between prayer and horseshoes is undeniable. Again...I somehow doubt that.

Example 3

If the prayer in example 2 was too big, let's try a smaller prayer. We find 1,000 deserving cancer patients. We split them into two groups of 500. We pray for the people in the first group, and we touch the people in the second group with a lucky horseshoe.

What do you suppose will happen? Will God reach down and cure all the people in the first group? Of course not. Statistically, the two groups will be identical. Praying for people has no effect on disease.

The reason is simple. Because testing prayer scientifically in this manner is misinterpreting prayer.

Prayer has exactly the same effect as a horseshoe. Oh...Whoops. Looks like my conclusion is faulty! -.-

The perfect equivalence between prayer and horseshoes is undeniable. Will you stop with that? There is no "equivalence" between prayer and horseshoes. For there to be an equivalence in the first place, prayer would actually have to be a horseshoe, and I know that's not what your suggesting.

You might be thinking "Now wait a minute, I know lots of people who have been cured by prayer."

Here's what is happening.

Let's say that there is a form of brain cancer that has a 10% survival rate. When people get this form of cancer, 1 person lives and 9 people die. They all pray. The one who survives shouts, "I prayed to God and he saved me!" But you never hear from the nine who died, because they are dead. So it sounds like prayer works, when it fact prayer has no effect. No. Intelligent Christians don't do this. We thank the doctors. We don't punt to God after everything that happens to us that we can't really explain. And to be honest, we shouldn't.

The "answered prayer" is a coincidence, nothing more. Prayer has no effect on disease because the belief in prayer is a superstition..

Example 4

Let's find a deserving Christian who has had a leg amputated. Now let's assemble a million faithful believers in a prayer circle. In Matthew 18:19 Jesus says:

If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

Of course, this verse is out of context. "The passage follows instructions for pursuing 'sheep' (members of the believing community) who go astray. Verses 15-18 are further instructions for community discipline. Verse 19 is an amplification on verse 18, using the 'Again, I say unto you' which indicates an expansion of what has been noted previously. Thus whatever verse 19 means, it is restricted to the context of discipline within the believing community of Christ. It is not, as you imagine, a license to request anything. Verse 18 refers to binding and loosing, a metaphor in Jesus' day to judicial authority. The allusion is to the fact that in Jewish thought of the time, 'the halakic decisions of the community have the authority of heaven itself.'...The word for 'thing' (pragma) is 'a term frequently limited to judicial matters.'" (Holding)

Let's have one million faithful believers pray to God to spontaneously restore the amputated limb.

What do you suppose will happen? Will the hand of God reach down and restore the limb? If you are a normal, intelligent person, you know what will happen. Nothing. This prayer will have no effect whatsoever.

Well, for one, we have the technology to fix this ourselves. Having your limb amputated is merely an inconvenience and is not life threatening. Two, what are the factors for this amputee? Did he get it blown off in a war? In this case, it was his own choice to go to war and God is under no obligation to fix our mistakes. Was he born without a limb or was it due to "natural" causes? If we were all doing our part, we could have figured out a way to stop that from happening, just like if we were all doing our part, there would be no starving children in Africa or evil in the world.

Do you see the pattern? It's the same pattern with my sock. Anything else?

We have looked at 4 examples. In each case, the effect of prayer is exactly the same as the effect of a lucky horseshoe. We could look at a hundred more examples and see the same thing. Prayer has exactly the same effect as a horseshoe in every case.

We have looked at four examples where the police have not stopped school shootings from happening. We could look at a hundred more examples and see the same thing. 911 calls are merely superstition and have exactly the same effect as a horseshoe in every case.

We have looked at four examples where my sock has not told me that God doesn't exist. It's mere superstition to suggest otherwise.

This line of reasoning is obviously ridiculous. There are many flaws in it. So why in the world must you compare God to a horseshoe?

There are not special laws of probability for people who pray. The laws of probability are always the same whether you pray or not. And we shouldn't expect there to be a difference.

There are not special laws of nature for people who pray. Otherwise, the laws of nature would behave differently when people pray, and none of our scientific equations would work. And we shouldn't expect there to be a difference.

The belief in prayer is pure superstition. Every answered prayer is a coincidence. We can prove it in hundreds of ways.

What does this mean? It means you're an idiot for reading the Bible hyperliterally like a typical fundy atheist.

Imagine that you are sick in the hospital. If your friend were to say, "Dear lucky horseshoe, please work your healing power on this disease." [W]e would think she is an idiot for being so superstitious. We all know that horseshoes have no effect on disease. It is the same if she prays to cure the disease. Prayer has exactly the same effect as a horseshoe.

Imagine that you are a soldier and your platoon is going into battle. If your commander were to say, "Dear lucky horseshoe, please protect these soldiers from harm." we would think he is an idiot for being so superstitious. A horseshoe does not protect anyone. It is exactly the same to pray for protection. Prayer does not protect anyone either.

And think about this. What if a minister says, "God tells you to tithe money to the church. If you do, God will answer your prayers." This is fraud. The minister is lying to you in order to get your money. The belief in prayer is pure superstition. Yes, it is fraud, in this context. That's not what good preachers do, however. They recognize that tithing is not a required aspect of being a Christian. They recognize that tithing has many benefits for both the giver and the reciever.

It is time for us to state the truth: prayer is a superstition. It is time to point out that the superstition of prayer, like all superstitions, is silly. And it is time for us to end the fraud.

Sorry, Marshall. You've failed to do anything except whine like a spoiled child. "WAHHHH! Why doesn't God give me a million dollars when I ask for it?!" This kind of bantering is ridiculous, and yet that's all you've done the entire time.

You have failed to consider all the philosophical arguments and evidence for the existence of God. You just throw them all away with sweeping generalizations.

For even further refutation of this premise, see J.P. Holding's critique of WhyWontGodHealAmputees.com (formerly Why Does God Hate Amputees?)