Do You Pray?

I was quite surprised to see that we don't have a poll on this subject. I'm not looking for heated argumentative posting (then again, when has that ever stopped anyone from starting one? ). I'm totally open to reasonable discussion and debate, though.

So do you pray, or not?

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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

No. Jesus likely has caller ID and he wouldn't recognize my name or pick up my number.

No.

Yes, often.

Not unless I want something.

*That's not true, I just like to say it because it annoys people that do. *

No, I don't pray. I don't believe in God, so I have no reason to.

So, I'm just wondering... when things go well for you (even "small" things such as avoiding a car accident or a red light)... do you ever say "Thank you" under your breath or in your mind? If you do, who are you thanking? God? The Flying Spaghetti Monster? Local government employees? Yourself? It doesn't matter to me. I'm just interested in who else does this, and who thinks it's weird and alien to their own life.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Hello.
I'm not sure exactly, who I'm thanking.
It's more of an automatic comment.
I would say some supreme being, or being lucky.
It's not weird at all.
It makes life interesting to think about things.
Right now, I'm trying to grasp how the universe supposedly doesn't end.

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"If you can't be funny be interesting."
Harold Ross

No prayer for me. Only in the "swear there ain't no Heaven and I pray there ain't no Hell" sense. It has gotten me this far.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

So Holds, you never mumble a "Thank you" now and again? I mean outside the general vicinity of a woman, but even so...

Occasionally. More frequently when someone asks me to keep another person in my prayers.

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If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.

Johann von Goethe

Yes I do!

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I have been formatted to fit this screen.

r66-The member who always asks WHY?

Yes... in my own way...

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Nope. . .

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...uh the post is up there...

I don't ever remember saying something like that with something "small", as you put it, honestly I don't. However, something truly small, like throwing a double six so I can get out of jail when playing Monopoly or something like that, I certainly have. Who am I saying it to? No one. It's just a reaction I've learned, like "Yessssss!" or "Whoo-hoo!". Why do I sometimes say "Pardon me" and other times "Excuse me"? I don't know, I make no conscious decision to use one over the other and I don't have a preference. Maybe there are subconscious triggers in the enviroment that make me use one rather than the other but, as they'd be subconscious, I have no idea what they are.

I say thank god all the time but am a complete atheist. Maybe God is my nickname for coincidence or luck or something lol, it is just a phrase that has been engraved in my brain since i was little just like 'oh my god' and sometimes i exclaim 'JESUS CHRIST' when people are going crazy or something but really why am i yelling at Jesus? i dunno haha

But i really don't think it's my subconscious wanting/believing in a God it's like what Honeykid said, to me it's the same as 'thank goodness' but am i really thanking...good things? Maybe? i dunno! that's all i can ever manage to say in these religious threads. I dunno.

I think when people who say thank God, but don't believe in that stuff it's merely them just recognizing, "Oh crap, I just had no control over that situation, but I got out safely!" I mean, that's just me shooting an opinion off from the hip.

Quite personally, I find it silly when people who don't believe it say thank God and someone hears them and tries to hold the saying at face value, and what's equally silly is when people say thank science or thank Darwin just to avoid using a common phrase such as thank God.

Is that your way of saying that you do it but have no logical explanation? I've only said "Thank Darwin" at this site to raise a laugh, but I'm not sure you have that kind of sense of humor.

When I pray it's an old habit in a crisis so I voted occasionally. It irritates me when I catch myself doing that, just as it irritates me to say things like "Thank god," because I don't believe. However, all those childhood years when they had me preaching and singing had an effect and created such habits.

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Bleacheddecay

I'm just saying why does someone have to be a believer to use the phrase thank God? Do you honestly think believers really mean thank God every time they say it? I'm sure some do it purely out of habit.

Regardless, yea, there's no logical explanation.

Where did I say that somebody has to be a believer to do such things? I like your answer though.