People pray against evils that can be helped. Many say they want to feel their prayer has done more good than action ever could. And if action is done, it is not it so much as the prayer empowering it.
Some clearly do pray against that which they know nothing can be done. People prayed as the bombs hit their houses in the wars.
Evidently the bigger the evil the more a prayer is asked to do. So the latter kind of prayer is the most important. If you had a choice between prayer in the face of something that needs work and something that work can do nothing about then choose the latter.
This principle shows that prayer has to be more about inner role play or
psychological relief. Praying like King Canute against a tsunami coming
in is useless except as a trick to feel useful.
When faced
with massive global challenges like climate disasters or widespread health
crises, it is easy to feel entirely powerless. In those moments, turning to
prayer or hope can offer deep emotional comfort. However, there is
a subtle danger when that comfort becomes a substitute for action.
Psychologists call this "moral licensing"—when doing something that makes us
feel good internally tricks our brains into thinking we’ve actually solved the
external problem. If praying or wishing for change satisfies our urge to help,
it risks neutralizing the very anxiety that drives us to take real-world
action. Massive crises are daunting, but they are still shaped by human
choices. Comfort that breeds passivity is a luxury we cannot afford. We need
both the hope that sustains us and the tangible, collective actions that
actually shift the outcome.
Religion may argue that evolution depends
too much on violence to be from a caring God. But the reality is violence is
built into everything. Denying that fuels violence ... denial puts the guard
down and we get hurt. Violence depends on some level of planning even if it
just pummelling and depends on some benefits such as strength. For that
reason, what we call good is merely an aspect of an overall violence. Violence
is the heart of the cosmos and existence. Prayer in that context is not
about being or doing or asking for real good.
Christopher Hitchens suggested that the man who
prays thinks that God arranged things poorly or wrongly and that the man
thinks he can instruct God to do better. Even if the man did not think that,
does that matter? He is still acting as if God needs advice and as if God can
respond to advice. The paradox is that you do not really want to help if
you involve an incapable or selfish or whimsical God. And we have
learned that prayer may be a placebo or a mask for one. A placebo is not
a cure. Remember that. A crisis that impacts others is not a
canvas for you to paint your own ego on.