Why are so many people afraid of prayer?
967751
Because satan teaches and entices a man/woman not to pray.  Praying brings one nearer to God and to the truth, and most do not want this because they are "enjoying" their sinful lives.
240087
I am a former fundamentalist Christian and I can tell you that religion definitely causes harm. It instills fear - especially in children - fear of God, the devil, the unknown, demons, natural feelings... the list goes on. I spent my life terrified that anything I did or didn't do might have been a sin, and praying for forgiveness just in case. I think I was more afraid of Jesus than any "devil". Of course, I believed in the teaching that Jesus is love, and therefore any fear came from the "evil one" - but the fact of the matter was that it was God who imposed all the rules in the first place, so at the heart of it, I was terrified of my idea of God.\n\nI preached to strangers, gave more than a tithe (tenth) of my before-tax income every week, and was only friends with non-Christians because I believed it was my duty to bring the Gospel to them. I read the Bible every day and believed my church pastor and elders when they told me that it was my responsibility to take the message of Jesus to non-believers, and that if I let an opportunity slip by when I could have shared the Gospel, and that person then died without knowing Jesus, "their blood [would] be on [my] hands."\n\nReligion has caused countless fights within my own family alone and was the basis for abuse at the hands of my ex who raped me (among other things). The church elders informed me that I was too tempting for him, it was my fault because I was a woman. I was to accept such treatment (and other abuse) because I was the woman and the man is the head of the house - it was not my place to question this.\n\nIt took me years to recover, and after living in fear for so long - and fear of a person for which there is no historical evidence - I can tell you religion definitely causes harm.\n\nMost people wouldn't hold religious beliefs if they weren't taught those beliefs. They may believe in a "higher power" but in today's society, chances are they wouldn't believe in the stories of the Bible. We know that bats are not birds, that donkeys and snakes don't talk, that you can't determine a sheep's colouring by the plants they view while copulating. Most people today would not extol the virtues of a book that tells us to feel happy while smashing babies' heads on rocks, that contains a rape manual, and that glorifies brutal treatment of women and slaves. There are many people who, if they actually read that book, would be utterly horrified at the things that have been attributed to their god.\n\nWhether people want to believe in a deity is neither here nor there, as far as I'm concerned. What they do BECAUSE OF that belief is what matters - and that's what religion is: organised belief in a deity.\n\nI have helped more people as an ex-Christian than I ever did while a Christian - and whatever I do to help people now is worth more because my motivation is that I give a damn about people, and not out of fear of punishment. When "help" is given by religous people and organisations, there is often (not always) a pound of flesh - whether that be an expectation that you attend services, or constant conversion attempts, whatever - because the motivation is a religious one. If people would just love each other because they CARE, it would mean much more.\n\nWould you like your loved ones to help you and be good to you because they care, or because they think they're going to get a reward from you (an inheritance, perhaps)? Worse, would you want them to help you because they're terrified of what you'll do if you don't?\n\nI'm not saying there is no "god". I'm saying that I believe there is no god as people believe it. If such a being exists and is truly all-powerful and all-loving, it certainly doesn't have a need for a "hell" and sure doesn't need our money.
285256
Most people’s prayers are of the nature of begging God for some favors.\nThey are utterly illogical, because God is believed to be all-knowing, and all-loving. The problem is that most people’s spiritual development stagnates somewhere at the age of 4 or 5, and their “God” just a magnified Daddy, or Mommy
669102
Either because it's become more politically correct to hate, or because they don't believe in God or if they do, they don't have a good prayer life. Why are there so many more ACLU attornays, employees, etc. whose only mission in life is to deliberately and methodically excise God from every facet of our society and our world? Why do they focus their attacks on Christians and not other religions?
699359
one answer is people were not brought up with religon in their life so they have no clue. the other one is there are a lot of antheist's out there trying to destroy our beliefs. and it is hard for some people to believe in something that they can not see. just need to pray for those people. and have God open their hearts up to him. Sometimes they need a miracle to start believing. and you really have to approach them very carefully.
1098989
If a person really had faith, he wouldn't bother praying. Praying indicates a person believes his God is really stupid.
471347
Our GOD asks us to obey him through the following of his rules ,to go to paradise and to  avoid the hell,but I want to tell you that there is a few peoples loved God deeply and forgot the fear.The fear comes when the Devil try to prevent one from obey his God and if so the hell is the fate.
1040471
its cos people who fear god\nkeep kneeling and there knees . are goin .
1138038
you need more than someone to pray
801944
Because deep down they realize that religion has no real basis in fact.  Therefore, they fear reasoned arguments by anybody else, especially non-believers.
448206
We are all inperfect due to inherited sin, so it is actually obvious that we all make many mistakes, it is a real struggle to do things the right way, but we can prevail, if we LEAN on God, repent, and trust that if we keep trying, God will see that. The thing is with humans is that we are such weak creatures that we often take a long time to learn even the simplest of lessons, more important than being successful, is TRYING to be successful, and never forget God knows our limitations, he knows us better than we know ourselves. People could also try praying when they FEEL temptation to do something wrong, and not just praying after we have made the mistake. God will give strength and power beyond what is normal to peiple if they are sincerely trying to do what is right.
1103117
When you ignore troubles, they only get bigger.  When someone or something tries to pull you down, pray that God will send you his grace and truth so you can really assess the situation and make a good decision.  Whatever role fear plays in this I am not sure but if you put all your faith and trust in God, there is only room for love.  There is nothing wrong with a little healthy fear because it can keep us from harm or danger but to live in fear keeps us from doing all we could do simply in fear of a perceived result.  People ridiculing, laughing, being rejected, that sort of thing is not healthy fear.
1008312
i am more afraid of the fact we have run-away legislation that is removing our civil liberties.\nWe have people of many faiths in government and the one thing i know about religion is none of them get along.\nI have noticed a trend towards more co-operation though among the different faiths in electing politicians.\nRELIGION is under a microscope these days and slowly more facts are pointing to it being silly superstition rooted in fear and the un-known.\nTHE bible or books of all religions include people that have lived around the times people write stories including there profits and unless your profit is the ruler or king of the land no information exists to support there existence\nPilgrimages did not begin till well after the stories were told and only slowly grew over hundreds of years .PEOPLE did not begin going to the site of jesus tomb or crucifixion for over 200 years.\nTHEY (religious leaders) are beginningto scramble to hold on to beleivers.churches are falling into ruin in america and new mega churches are springing up .THESE churches have seating for 10 and 20 thousand members and if you doubt there political involvement you have not noticed whats happenong in america.THEY have many political agends and community involvement at  the highest levels .THESE people once motivated buy there leader or politician become campaign advocates making calls walking precincts and turning out votes for the people choosen for them by there leaders.\nTHESE choosen politicians are as blind as a bat to the needs of americans and serve only the mega churches values this does not represent america but only about 1% of the community that is very active.\nIF democrats ever want to be elected they need a strong orginized base like these mega churches provide for consevatives.\nREMEMBER if i can get you in a room and tell you jesus said so that one hour sermon just got turned into a political ralley if given in a mega church.\nreligion is on its way out in america this is its last flash and appears  bright but the light will fade out quickly.\nWE can not ignor the impact of this and will need to remove and repair some laws written during this time over the last twenty years.\nRELIGION is becoming a thing of the past , only religious leaders of the catholic church , there politicians, support the mexicans here who just so happen to be predominently catholic.\nBUT my friend bush is attacking the press for giving him such a hard time for 8 months when he took (TOOK) office and had no support for anything and went on vacation till 9-11.NOW bush beleives he was meant to be the leader of the new crusades against fundimental religious leaders who have declared war on all christians world wide.THEY SEE our bible as wrong and the peoplle following the devil so bushes responce is bring it on and he will track them down to the ends of the earth never giving-up.\nHAD we not tried to change there way of live and not brought western ideas and crimes with us they would have ignored us but 40 years of interferance in there way of life lead to this point.I fear idiots like bush and a religious people but now we see them all for what they are and soon america will evolve beyond mystical and fear driven populations concerned more about personel gain and profit then religion.
418189
When we want to stop fears or concerns in our life and we just say have more faith, i think we are taking one part of the scriptures and not the other. Faith with out works is DEAD, so if you want to overcome the fear have faith that you will over overcome and work to overcome it. For example, if you are scared of heights, just saying that you have faith that God will take the fear away gets you nowhere, getting on that plane or climbing that ladder(safely) and turning over that fear to God instead of relying on it, remocves the fear. Saying I need more faith will do nothing, there are plenty of people in the bible who had the faith of a mustard seed and they gave or did what they had to do and their faith was increased and they were rewarded with what they wanted. Increasing your faith will do nothing if you do not act on it. Pray that God will give you the strength and then go forward , procrastination will only disappoint.
431579
Prayer is basically individuals communicating with God.  If individuals who don't believe in God are forced to "pray", I think it actually denigrates prayer, implying that it doesn't matter what you believe or who you "pray" to.  It would probably harden the hearts of those individuals against God, being forced into a religious practice they don't believe in.  Let those who believe, pray.  But let them do it in private, or with a group of other believers, and not turn it into a public display of piety - that's not what God wants.
902338
It is in the human's nature to fear what they don't understand. It is lack of exposure to differences and an ignorant attitude that create fear. Religions can foster this ignorance, yes.
137434
Some people just enjoy praying so politely say Amen!\n\n(You are so FUNNY!)