Every Friday evening or, sometimes, Saturday evenings, some believers gather together, and head off to give prayers and thanksgiving to the Almighty. In the Christian tradition, and especially in Kenya, the phenomenon is known as Kesha. During this overnight event, the believers sing praises, worship their creator, and pray… hard. They ask for forgiveness, they express their gratitude, and they ask for more blessings. They give promises, negotiate with their maker and make new resolutions. They clap their hands, shout for attention, and talk in tongues. Others get carried away, bang against walls, crawl on the floor, froth from the mouth, and ultimately faint.
It is a very engaging spectacle. It is also a highly illogical spectacle.
In reality, prayers are indefensible. This is because, when examined against the backdrop of all religious doctrines, prayers attain a superfluous status. The core doctrines of the world’s major religions actually, implicitly, show that prayers are not only illogical, but they also contradict every other belief. Let me explain just why this is the case.
When people pray, they believe that they are speaking with an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and omnibenevolent being. Yet there, right there, lies the quagmire. If you truly believe that you are speaking to an all-knowing being, then your words are essentially unnecessary. An all-knowing being would already know your needs, and doesn’t need reminding. Hence, by praying, you are essentially questioning the omniscience of your creator. You are implicitly revealing your doubts about whether this being remembers you, or your needs.
Another problem with prayers, especially those called petitions, is that they go against the doctrine of the Divine Plan. Believers hold to the perspective that there is a Divine Plan – an ideal route through which events are supposed to manifest. And this is the reason why, when believers observe something unexpected, they say, “It was the will of God”. Or, when making plans about the future, they add, “God willing”. These two statements show that Adherents firmly believe in a Divine Plan, which flows from the will of God. But if this is the case, then petitions in prayers, which are essentially requests for a change of a certain situation, are not only illogical, they are also presumptuous. They presume that God can deviate from his Divine plan and satisfy the unique needs of a mere mortal.
The last major problem with prayers is that they conflict with the ideology of free will. Believers hold the perspective that human beings have free will – the ability to control their destiny. This is the foundation of the doctrine of punishments and rewards – that since people have free will, they are also responsible for their actions. Free will, hence, is a core doctrine of religions. However, when people pray, they actually challenge this same core doctrine. For example, a parent praying for her son’s success is essentially asking God to change the son’s actions and orient them towards success. But if God was to do that, he would have to infringe on that son’s free will. After all, the son may be more inclined to be a rogue.
Given the above three fundamental problems, it should be clear that a prayer is a ritual that ignores every other core doctrine of whichever religion it is practiced in. The next time you kneel down to pray, ask yourself the following:
- Are you implying that God isn’t aware of what you are about to say?
- Do you really believe that God can deviate from his Divine Plan and Will just to satisfy your personal desires?
- Do you really want to interfere with the free will of that loved one that you are praying for?