Do atheists PRAY to anybody ?

[chinu]

Ahh another "no atheist in the foxhole" question; huh? I remember talking to a person who was not an atheist; who found himself in a very dangerous situation where he thought he was going to be killed. I asked him if he prayed, he responded that he was so focused on doing what was necessary to spare his life that praying was the last thing on his mind. If theists don't pray when in danger, why on earth do you think an atheist would?

Prayer is not that which is done by mouth, or by following a certain ritual. Its a natural process. Waves of prayer automatically start coming out of body in extreme danger.

 

[Stevicus]

I've had a couple of moments, including standing in the back of a utility car that was attacked in Papua New Guinea. We were driving at 60kmh through a village and got ambushed with people throwing stones down at the car, between fist and head sized.

Pretty dangerous. God didn't cross my mind at all.

I probably wouldn't think about God either. My first thought would be to get out of Dodge as soon as possible, with my second thought being "why are they doing this?"

That may be part of what happens, if someone ends up in that kind of situation, wondering why or it could come to that.

Although, regarding this topic, I'm reminded of the final scene in the movie "The End" with Burt Reynolds, where he plays a man who is told that he has a terminal disease and only a year to live. So, he tries various ways of killing himself but fails. Finally, he walks out into the ocean as far as he can and then changes his mind at the last second and wants to live. Here is his prayer to God as he's desperately trying to swim back to shore, thinking he's not going to make it.

 

[chinu]

Insults based on ignorance will never help your beliefs

And ignorance based on companionship also doesn't help one's beliefs.

 

[chinu]

Some people might pray under such extreme duress, but I can't see how it can be true for everyone. I could even see how a theist might be so panicked as to forget to pray when in extreme danger. Everyone is different, so I would think individual responses to extreme danger would be varied.

Prayer is not that which is done by mouth, or by following a certain ritual. Its a natural process. Waves of prayer automatically start coming out of body in extreme danger.

 

[ChristineM]

And ignorance based on companionship also doesn't help one's beliefs.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Okay its hope. But towards whom this hope is ?

Hope is free-standing. Pleading isn't. There's a big difference. If there's no one to plead with (and for atheists, there isn't) then one is left with hope. It isn't directed to anyone. That seems to be a troublesome concept to you.

 

[JustGeorge]

What are you talking about? Not thinking of a god when you have no god to think about is pretty normal for an atheist. In such dangerous situations chances are they are thinking of their families or how to get out of the mess they are in... I.e. relying on themselves, not a mythical god

I'm a theist, but I think my Gods would be irritated if I stood around praying while someone was attacking...

"Move, you dummy! Defend yourself! This is not a time to chat!"

 

[Stevicus]

Prayer is not that which is done by mouth, or by following a certain ritual. Its a natural process. Waves of prayer automatically start coming out of body in extreme danger.

Waves of prayer? Are you saying that panic = prayer?

 

[lewisnotmiller]

You need a companionship, likes and all that to debate, but I don't.
Have some courage to just speak and stand for yourself

What the f are you talking about? What is there to debate? That you know people better than they know themselves despite having never met them? You think you know how people responded in life and death situations better than the people who were IN those life and death situations. Despite being half a world away behind a keyboard. The hubris is incredible. And then you speak of courage. I am standing up for myself, but this is no debate. Just your ignorant self-congratulatory assumptions, and the complete denial of the rights of others to speak for themselves if they don't agree with you.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I probably wouldn't think about God either. My first thought would be to get out of Dodge as soon as possible, with my second thought being "why are they doing this?"

Oh, I knew why they were attacking, as much as it was nothing to do with me, and a complete over-reaction. The driver of the car was the target, I was just at risk of being collateral damage. Mostly I was a helpless bystander on the back of the truck dodging rocks and hoping the driver didn't crash, since either would have been almost certainly fatal for me.

 

[Soandso]

I've been confronted with the imminence of my own mortality a couple different times. In both of those times pleading to God types for mercy didn't really play a role - I just focused on mustering the strength and clarity of mind to tackle the problems and that seemed to work well enough for me

 

[Mock Turtle]

Prayer is not that which is done by mouth, or by following a certain ritual. Its a natural process. Waves of prayer automatically start coming out of body in extreme danger.

Given that you mentioned the sea earlier, I can relate two other incidents (adding to the previous ones) where I didn't even think of praying either. Once when I encountered my first gale, and being in command of the yacht, and secondly, in another rising gale (worse), and where we had some equipment failure - the pivoting tiller coming adrift leaving us with just a bolt head protruding from the cockpit floor - fatigue failure of a bolt seemingly. Fortunately we had a pair of molegrips onboard. So which is better here - thinking (of solutions) or praying?

 

[Kfox]

Prayer is not that which is done by mouth, or by following a certain ritual. Its a natural process. Waves of prayer automatically start coming out of body in extreme danger.

I don't think the OP was talking about that kind of prayer

 

[Soandso]

Prayer is not that which is done by mouth, or by following a certain ritual. Its a natural process. Waves of prayer automatically start coming out of body in extreme danger.

I don't know what that means

 

[VoidCat]

Ummmm....

Im a polytheist. But the way the OP is talking throughout this thread I have to ask...
@chinu have you ever been in danger before? I have. Multiple times. Once to the point i gave up ready to die. I'm not so sure you have.

 

[VoidCat]

Ummmm....

Im a polytheist. But the way the OP is talking throughout this thread I have to ask...
@chinu have you ever been in danger before? I have. Multiple times. Once to the point i gave up ready to die. I'm not so sure you have.

@chinu
You have 4 responses to danger. I have experienced all of them before.

Fight, flight,freeze, and fawn.
Thats if you notice the danger of course. Some folk end up in extreme danger and don't notice it. 3 of those responses are self explanatory but fawn isn't. Fawn is submission it's submitting to your attacker and doing what they want. It's conplimenting them, mirroring the attacker, becoming like them, and making yourself a small threat by befriending them.

Sometimes in that split moment multiple reactions may be brought to surface.

Sometimes situations can be prolong lasting months or years.

You talk as if extreme danger is always hit you unexpected, quick. It's not always. And sometimes you may not even realize you in danger till it's too late. But even in the quick unexpected situations...its not clear cut either. Particularly with responses such as freeze. Prayer? Not always possible or even thought of. You just focus on getting out. In many cases i think prayer is in those types of situations often reaction you could have if you hit the flight reaction and can't flee. A way to try and escape even if its impossible. Maybe fawn if the attacker is religious

Edit: what im saying is dangerous situations are complicated. Everyone reacts differently and it really depends on the situation how someone responds. You seem to be simplifying it.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

@chinu
You have 4 responses to danger. I have experienced all of them before.

Fight, flight,freeze, and fawn.
Thats if you notice the danger of course. Some folk end up in extreme danger and don't notice it. 3 of those responses are self explanatory but fawn isn't. Fawn is submission it's submitting to your attacker and doing what they want. It's conplimenting them, mirroring the attacker, becoming like them, and making yourself a small threat by befriending them.

Sometimes in that split moment multiple reactions may be brought to surface.

Sometimes situations can be prolong lasting months or years.

You talk as if extreme danger is always hit you unexpected, quick. It's not always. And sometimes you may not even realize you in danger till it's too late. But even in the quick unexpected situations...its not clear cut either. Particularly with responses such as freeze. Prayer? Not always possible or even thought of. You just focus on getting out. In many cases i think prayer is in those types of situations often reaction you could have if you hit the flight reaction and can't flee. A way to try and escape even if its impossible. Maybe fawn if the attacker is religious

Edit: what im saying is dangerous situations are complicated. Everyone reacts differently and it really depends on the situation how someone responds. You seem to be simplifying it.

All good points. One of the times I was in fairly extreme danger, a friend of mine voluntarily walked into the threatening situation, and I had to make a decision to follow or not. If ever I was going to say a prayer, it would have been during that voluntary but reluctant walk into danger. Instead I was counting weapons and checking my surroundings.

And plenty of times I've tried to de-escalate threatening, but less deadly situations. Every time is a bit different.

 

[chinu]

Ummmm....

Im a polytheist. But the way the OP is talking throughout this thread I have to ask...
@chinu have you ever been in danger before? I have. Multiple times. Once to the point i gave up ready to die. I'm not so sure you have.

Once to the point you gave up ready to die -- what saved you ?

 

[chinu]

@chinu
You have 4 responses to danger. I have experienced all of them before.

Fight, flight,freeze, and fawn.
Thats if you notice the danger of course. Some folk end up in extreme danger and don't notice it. 3 of those responses are self explanatory but fawn isn't. Fawn is submission it's submitting to your attacker and doing what they want. It's conplimenting them, mirroring the attacker, becoming like them, and making yourself a small threat by befriending them.

Sometimes in that split moment multiple reactions may be brought to surface.

Sometimes situations can be prolong lasting months or years.

You talk as if extreme danger is always hit you unexpected, quick. It's not always. And sometimes you may not even realize you in danger till it's too late. But even in the quick unexpected situations...its not clear cut either. Particularly with responses such as freeze. Prayer? Not always possible or even thought of. You just focus on getting out. In many cases i think prayer is in those types of situations often reaction you could have if you hit the flight reaction and can't flee. A way to try and escape even if its impossible. Maybe fawn if the attacker is religious

Edit: what im saying is dangerous situations are complicated. Everyone reacts differently and it really depends on the situation how someone responds. You seem to be simplifying it.

Prayer is not that which is done by mouth, or by following a certain ritual. Its a natural process. Waves of prayer automatically start coming out of body in extreme danger.

Some folk end up and don't even notice that danger. Yes, this happens but it has nothing to do with prayer.

I am also not trying to prove that prayer always saves the person. Am just trying to say that regardless of theist, or atheist prayer is a natural process which automatically starts happening when the time come.

 

[viole]

Do atheists PRAY to anybody when they find themselves in extreme danger ?

It can happen. If, for instance, a robber threatens to kill me, I might pray to him to not do it.

ciao

- viole