Praying for Japan

When I think of the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, somehow I cannot help but remember hundreds of thousands of people "Liking" a certain Facebook page called Pray for Japan. Do you?

I also recall seeing several friends' profile images changed into various pictures with the words Pray for Japan embedded in them. It quickly became a rather inspiring tagline. When I first saw this, I sincerely thought it was pretty cute; I even considered clicking the "Like" button. Being an atheist, I guess you can imagine that I don't pray. Even if there was a God who can hear us, I doubt that any of our prayers would be good enough to convince such an ambiguous being to help with the aftermath of a devastating tsunami, considering that he let the earthquake happen in the first place. What happened in Fukushima made me feel completely powerless. During the later parts of my teenage and for many years after, Japan had been my dream country; and now it was suffering terribly. For a moment, my humanist side got the better of me: "If it can cheer anyone up, then why not?" and I did consider joining, if only as a symbolic display of friendship and support. If you did click, there is clearly no harm in it. Looking back, however, I am glad I chose to abstain myself.

The moment I heard news of what happened, I started browsing for reports. There clearly were no signs of an all-powerful being helping to cool down the reactors or preventing radioactive wastes from spreading into the Pacific. He could easily have if he wanted. In fact, is it not claimed in ancient religious books that he created the universe? Though I knew it certainly was not intended to be, at that point, praying for supernatural support seemed more like a joke in poor taste. Talks of prayer in a situation like that sounded a bit like saying: "I could donate something, perhaps send a word of encouragement; or write a song and put it up on YouTube; or maybe even send some of my hard earned money to a relief fund, but no; I think I should just close my eyes and say a little prayer before I go to bed. God can handle this for me." Thinking about Fukushima also reminded me of the Haiti earthquake that affected several of my friends' families in 2010. All these powerless devout Christians crying in pain after losing their parents and their homes, wondering how a loving deity could allow such a merciless series of calamities to devastate an already devastated country.

Religion: Helping children misconstrue reality since the Paleolithic.

Perhaps is it needless to say; there are very few atheists living in Haiti. How a just God would let countries who fear him the most have it like this while at the same time nothing ever happens to us Canadians who answered 68% negatively after watching a recent public debate asking: Is religion a force for good in the world? is beyond religious comprehension. We all know that God's ways are supposed to be mysterious, but this is not mysterious; this is just absurd and saddening. If he would rather spare the infidels and let his own devout followers suffer terrible pain, where is the incentive in worshiping a god like that? If Yahweh is letting an ultra-Christian country eat all the dirt while the millions of atheists and agnostics living in Canada are getting all the pussy, do you seriously think it is likely to get any better in heaven? If a coworker acts like an asshole towards you whenever he gets the chance, do you really think it would improve the relationship if you guys became roommates? Did God chose not to prevent the earthquakes (because he could have) as a punishment for some sins Haitians committed in the past; or were they just forgotten by an all-powerful omnipotent and omniscient being who is supposed to be all-knowing? If I could not yet convince you, I do hope I make my point regarding why I find your imaginary friend a little awkward.

As weeks passed, the more I kept seeing and hearing about this Pray for Japan meme, the more it became pathetically depressing. Obviously, if God never gives any clear priority to those who worship him vs. those who don't, he is probably not going to do much about earthquakes and nuclear reactors either. Why then waste time asking? In fact, the worse the conditions became for the homeless and starving tsunami victims, the more this "online praying" frenzy began to disgust me, big time. I could not get myself to accept that all these young people could seriously see anything pertinent in the unprovable power of prayer. I mean, come on... the power of prayer? You've got to be kidding me. Surely lots of them had joined out of political correctness or to show their mental support. Prayer seems so much like a cowardly excuse to do nothing while feeling that you are actually doing something. It is in my humble opinion the most counter-productive way ever invented to consume the time of honest, well intentioned people. How far can wishful thinking bring anyone? As far as the poorest and most religious countries in the world, perhaps? We both know how it can seem impossible to move on when we feel abandoned, or deeply depressed, but...

According to statistics, these men are probably both atheists.

But Japanese people know better. They don't need our prayers. Financial help is welcome, sure. Perhaps even psychological help; encouragement; real help; anything that can be measured in some way. Even without it, the Japanese have always been able to get through the hard times without help from the all powerful abrahamic God. Come to think of it, during World War II, they did have something very similar to a religion. Their "religion" was a political one and their demi-God was the Emperor. He was supposed to be able to save them; they were confident that with him they were invincible. As a chosen people, they were destined to rule the world and the sacrifice they were making was just part of a greater plan. On  January 1, 1946, after Emperor Hirohito gave his second public speech admitting that he was not so divine after all, that's when the Japanese people understood what it feels like waking up from centuries of religious delusion. What a coincidence it is that today, roughly 84% of them claim not to have any formal religious affiliation. It is too bad that this kind of truth is not spoken of publicly more often; it could really help. Unfortunately, our average Gods rarely step down and confess to the world that they are imaginary.

But doesn't prayer seem to work sometimes? The truth is that, yes, it does sometimes. But it has consistently shown to make the person who does the praying feel better, not those being prayed for. Besides, it may make you feel better but it will never help you learn algebra; nor make you better in bed. If we pray for rain long enough, it does rain eventually, but we all know why that is. Of all the NFL players who prayed for God to help them win the Super Bowl, only one team ended up winning and they probably thanked God for that; such is the absurdity of prayer in modern pop culture. We must realize that improbable things, however improbable, are bound to happen if given enough time to. Someone inevitably ends up guessing the winning numbers because there are too many people playing for that not to happen. Eventually, a question we can't really help but ask is: "Suppose you knew that no one was up there to hear your lamentations, what would you have tried to accomplish in the meantime?" The purpose of this article isn't simply to depress you or to discredit the value of hope. I think we can both agree on one thing: We are much more valuable to society when we actively get involved than if we just trust an invisible parent to solve every problem.

Could you guess exactly how much praying went into conceiving the ISS?

Yes, prayer can help someone by providing him with hope; the same way that feeling loved by his family can help a patient get better more easily than one who is alone, suffering from depression. Reading your astrology can make you smile if it says that everyone is going to fall in love with you today; but wishful thinking can only do so much when it is someone else who is praying for you. A scientific study on prayer reveals that patients who thought they were being prayed for (whether or not it was the case), got slightly worse. Possibly because of higher stress levels caused by the pressure they felt to recover? Other than that, there were no noticeable differences. Recently, a group of people in the UK stopped taking their HIV medication after being told that if they prayed hard enough it would be perfectly fine. Guess what? They are now dying and it is too late. God is not there to help. Tibetans are still hoping for their Dalai Lama to come back and rescue them. What if they could realize that until they take action, they will never obtain the freedom they crave?

Don't get me wrong. I may be quite pessimistic about religion in general but I am not yet a cynic. When it comes to most religions today, there is an evolution going on and there is room for hope. They can become more pragmatic; more realistic; more honest. They could abandon most of their empty claims to divine knowledge and still remain useful. But for most people who live under difficult conditions and rely on faith to find comfort, praying is a good way to prolong misery while thinking that they are working on the issue. Once they realize it has no use, waking up from their delusion may hurt for a while, but until they finally accept to deal with reality, and until we all start working together at improving things ourselves (no matter how incredibly difficult it sometimes is) things will progress slowly as always. Is it not about time that we started acting self-determinedly? As we drift helplessly through this perplexing universe, until further notice, we're still by ourselves...