Why do some people who claim to be non-believers or even atheists ask for prayers?

Strange, for sure.
It makes one question their true beliefs.

You’ll never find me asking for prayers.

Very weird. I haven’t seen that. I guess maybe they are asking for helpful thoughts and using the language commonly used by the masses.

Many atheists I know don’t like when people offer prayers, so it’s very odd for sure. I’m more moderate about it, I just say thank you, I know they are wanting to be caring and helpful.

I use expressions like God help me and God is punishing me, and I don’t believe in God. I wouldn’t ask for prayers though, but maybe it’s part of the same.

Likes.. Or stupid social media stuff.

And no.. It means their social media person is a idiot. Or good at their job.

If you think Joan Cusack is actually tweeting you are a knob. She pays a company to manage her brand and you swallow it.

I used to care about global warming. Then Twitter happened and I wished it would hurry up.

I can’t imagine. It might be that someone else did it in their name.

If you ever see me asking for prayers, call a mod. My account has been hacked. :-)

Either a “no atheists in foxholes” type phenomenon or they’re simply asking for good thoughts and they know their audience contains a lot of believers, so they ask for prayers.

Because it can’t hurt. Desperate times—desperate measures.

Could it possibly be that some less educated, or slightly shallow people don’t (any more) understand the true meaning of (thoughts and) prayers, but instead see it as attention they might get if they ask for it (check the responses in Instagram for hearts and praying emojis); the more likes, the more people (seem to) care for you (or your sick dog).
A kind of devaluation of the understanding.
Exaggerated by the amount of times it is thrown about on social media.
I can imagine questions for prayers in the pre social media days for a terminally ill child, in a church (community).
Nowadays it seems ‘we’ ask for prayers when a fart is bothering ‘us’.

I’m an atheist. I don’t mind people praying for me if they feel they want to if it makes them feel better. I think it’s sweet.

@caravanfan but do you ask for prayers?

@chyna No.

Just a thought, but perhaps an atheist is doubtful and is asking for proof in his/her life before believing?

The best person to convince is one who is doubtful, because they need reassurance to be convinced otherwise

..they are actually MORE open to being convinced than the person who does NOT listen to anything of the other.

“Believers” a.k.a. Christians are not the only ones who use the word “pray”, nor does everyone mean the same thing by it.

Atheism is the belief that no gods exist. That’s it. But a prayer does not have to be to a god. One can be an atheist and still believe in guardian spirits, good vibes, the law of return, or whatever else might account for the so-called “power of prayer” even if a lot of atheists don’t. Or they could just believe in the psychological effects of people expressing their support.

The one that made me go hmmm was one of our beloved jellies who is an adamant atheist stated that they knew something one of the grand kids did and confronted the child with the knowledge. When the child asked how they knew, they responded that “God told me”. I remember at the time thinking that if I was a non-believer that I would use the old standby “I’ve got eyes in the back of my head so you really need to be more careful”. Even if the parents are believers, I think I’d keep my beliefs neutral when it came to religion around the grands

Kismet, good good vibrations, the power of the Earth Mother, etc. Then too, it is a universal way for people to offer comfort. Just like funerals are not for the deceased, but for the survivors. It gives others a way to feel they can be helpful.
Many say bless you when someone sneezes, but nobody believes anymore that evil spirits have caused the sneeze.

What @Patty_Melt says.

There are certain things that are psychologically valuable about praying. I have done it myself.. hunched over a commode vomiting my guts out…. Not what you’re thinking, it was food poisoning

Many people in my generation use pray as synonymous with hope. “I hope you feel better” as “I pray you feel better”. I have done that and don’t even recognize the religious aspect of it. But then again, I am not a militant atheist.

Because people are idiots lol
Same with church weddings, swearing before God your lifelong loyalty to your partner.
Quit faking that shit!

I think because they see it as meaning good wishes and thoughts their way, and that’s how they say it for the ones that believe. I guess figure of speech, and they don’t have to explain themselves on their true feelings.

They do it to conform to the established model. It’s equivalent to wearing a tie if you call yourself a businessman.

Prayer is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

Those who claim to be atheists and ask for prayers probably don’t really understand what “atheist” means. It’s like a friend of mine who thought he was atheist but after a discussion on the subject, he learned he was actually agnostic.

@Zaku Believers can be anybody who believes, not just Christians. Theists are believers.

Ask them.

I don’t know any true atheists who would say this. I wouldn’t.

There is ample evidence that the power of a group of people thinking positive thoughts about someone or about an outcome can have an effect. Thoughts are a form of energy.

As a non-believer, I view prayers as kind, caring thoughts. I never object or take offense when people say they’re praying for me or someone I love; I take it in the spirit of that kindness. But, I certainly wouldn’t ask for anyone’s prayers.

Covering all the bases?

^Love it!

I beleive they are believers.
A test showed spikes of stress /anxiety when atheists answered “no” when asked if they beleive in God

@komencents Also possible that that is triggered by a traumatic memory.

@rebbel a test on people who’ve had the corpus callosum broken (the part that connects the right and left hemispheres of the brain) showed something pretty incredible.

When the left hemisphere was asked if the person believed in God, it replied no.
The right, however always replied yes. It actually answers in a way that it affirms it knows factually and beleif has nothing to do with it.

Just thought you may find that interesting

I guess a hard “yes” or “no” to the question requires half a brain. :P

A lot of self proclaimed atheists are trying to fool themselves.
They are believers who are pissed off at god, and tend to behave militantly about the subject.
Those who truly believe there are no gods, simply feel everyone to their own happiness.

For the most part.

@Patty_Melt I definitely think there are important distinctions between someone who became an atheist because of a trauma in their life or who underwent a bitter rejection of their religious upbringing in contrast with someone who simply drifted away from religious belief or had no religious upbringing in the first place. These reasons might affect someone’s willingness to ask for prayers (if, for example, they haven’t completely dropped some of the norms and rituals of religion despite their professed lack of belief).

Misotheism: believing in and hating one or more gods.

Not all atheists are true Atheists just like not all christians are true Christians. People often choose to wear a badge so they can flash it when it most benefits their needs

@SEKA That looks an awful lot like the No true Scotsman fallacy. A person who wears a badge they don’t deserve isn’t some kind of second-rate atheist or Christian. They’re not an atheist or a Christian at all.

Could be due to cognitive dissonance or Pascal’s wager

@Irukandji Exactly. I wasn’t saying they were 2nd rate. I was saying they were liars pretending to be whatever to whomever could benefit them the most