Wasted Prayers

On Sunday, August 18, I read an article in the Washington Post by Colbert I. King, a lovely, highly intelligent man who adheres ardently to the tenets of his Christian faith. A Christian in the best sense, he believes in civility, humility, in viewing every person as “a beloved child of God” (otherwise known as being charitable and respectful toward others) and in forgiveness. These are all desirable qualities, but one need not be religious to espouse these ideals. The downside of devout religion such as his is that along with these good tenets come superstitious delusions.

Prominent among these is the belief that prayers are answered. In the face of no evidence to support this belief and much to discredit it, tens of millions of the faithful believe a big guy in the sky listens to a zillion prayers a day and personally gives them a yea or a nay. King admits that his prayers are not always answered in a way he’d prefer, yet, he insists, they are answered in “God’s own way and time.” This is the old “God’s Plan” ploy that gives latitude to anything “God” “does” with the idea we mortals just can’t comprehend it and should assume it is for the good no matter how bad it seems.

Even after years of praying for Donald Trump to straighten up, predictably in vain, King’s belief in prayer remains unshaken. Some may view this as admirable, some as naive. To those of us who have been spared the brainwashing of blind faith and shake our heads at the nonsense that prayers will reform Trump or stop such things as the gun carnage in our schools, one thing is crystal clear. If God really believes the abominations He foists on us are necessary to some plan for the human race, it would be well if He were to hire an independent planning committee.

Mr. King’s article pushed this steadfast faith in prayers on behalf of reforming Trump to the point where, if he were not so sincere and well intentioned, it would be comical. Anyone who believes God is any match for the likes of Trump, or Putin, or Stalin or Hitler greatly overestimates the power of the Almighty.

Still, though prayers do not directly change events, they are not without value. Prayer can comfort us and help us in our quest for enlightenment by promoting reflection. It can be an act of hope and a way of expressing caring to others. It can also strengthen the good elements within us, but if, and only if, good elements exist in us to begin with. Trump has amply demonstrated he does not possess any such elements. Not a one.

I am as firmly convinced that prayer has power to change things for the good only in the sense that it inspires what is good in us to do the changing, as Mr. King is convinced that prayers are heard by God and actually do bring change about through divine intervention.

It has been aptly said, “faith can move mountains, but it doesn’t hurt to bring a shovel.” In the case of Trump it would be well to bring several shovels and a few backhoes.

Faith such as Mr. King’s is a form of magical thinking, an island of childish illogic in an otherwise adult mind. It’s impervious to objective scrutiny, because children are indoctrinated in it before they have achieved the age of reason. It is sheer fantasy believed by the indoctrinated the way children believe in Santa, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny.

Some entity called “God” does not act from outside us. What we call “God,” rather, is a psychological construct that acts from the part within us that is ethical, kind and caring. We can label these traits as “godliness.”

The likes of Trump do not possess a shred of this godliness. They would never pray for enlightenment, but if at all, for gratification of their selfish desires. They do not depend on God’s largess for this anyway, but gain those desires by ruthlessness, cunning and deceit, the tools of the Devil. And, like Satan, such despicable people deserve not one iota of forgiveness.

King ends the article with a prayer for Trump to “get help.” Help with what? If he means help to reform his ways, I can assure you as a psychiatrist, he neither desires such help nor would any attempt at therapy, not even if God were the shrink, have a snowball’a chance in hell of being effective.

If you insist on praying for anything, pray that Trump is defeated at the polls by the good people within whom the true spirit of God resides. Pray that he is punished for his crimes against the nation. Pray that the MAGA party falls apart and sanity and reason are restored to those who have been trapped in its spell.

With all due respect to the well intentioned Mr. King, however, even those prayers are superfluous, for the power that can bring this about does not reside outside of us, but, rather, within us.