I grew up religious. I made religious friends. Heck, I was religious. So, I still have religious connections. But it now gets under my skin when people say, "I'm praying for you."

Truthfully, I can't put my finger on the reason why. I don't believe prayer works. I believe you are merely spending too much time pretending to talk to your invisible friend upstairs.

I do like the bumper sticker that says, "You pray for me; I'll think for you."

I guess part of the reason is that prayer endows the believer with the sense of helping someone when no such help is the result. Like, if I say, "I'm praying you'll get better," that is reason for me to not offer help--that I am already doing something to help.

I also don't like prayer before meals. There is that uncomfortable bowing of heads and hand-holding. Why do you thank a god for something you obviously procured yourself? Why do you further encroach on me by including me in the thanking? (Prayers are usually asked in a communal sense: "We thank you for this food...")

I don't mind praying albeit it's weird and disturbing, but this is a free country and your welcome to do it. Just leave me out of it and don't pray for me.