Prayer for People Who Don't Believe in God

by Vance Morgan

Does prayer have any meaning for someone who is no longer sure about what, if anything, is on the receiving end? If God or the divine isn't a "being" out there "listening," what are we doing when we pray? Many progressive christians struggle with prayer -or, at least, with the kinds of prayer they are often exposed shouted, whispered, forceful, timid, begging, and demanding; everything from essay lengthy scripted petitions, to poetry read from a book, to rote recitations that no one pays much attention to, to pronouncements, to communications in a "prayer language." They are often gripped by the power of the Christian faith but are simply unable or unwilling to endorse or engage with many of its traditional beliefs, including traditional beliefs about God and prayer. If we're not trying to connect with the kind of God who takes notes, answers "yes" or "no," and grants or withholds favours, what or whom are we trying to connect with? And so often our words seem to travel no further than the ceiling, no matter what we believe. The situation for people who describe themselves as "spiritual but not religious" isn't much different. They may not "pray" in the traditional sense or in traditional ways, but many long to connect or communicate with something larger than themselves - as good a definition of "prayer" as any - whether they name that something "the divine," "big love," or "spirit"; or think of it as a "force" or "energy" that connects all things. This is not an academic book, nor a "how-to" document. Rather, it poses questions that are important to progressive Christians and to the "spiritual but not religious." Working only with the assumption that prayer might have value even for those who are not sure what, or who, or even if God is, this book is about opening oneself to the "possibility of God."

157 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2019

Reviews

[Russell O. Redman]

Fabulous book! The title is a bit hyperbolic. He does believe in God, just not THAT kind of god - fill in your favorite idol, whether it be the big guy with the beard in the Sistine Chapel, the prayer answering message boy, or whatever. As a working professor of ethics, he has dealt with decades of students whose concepts of God and prayer needed a good shaking up before they met the pain and unanswered prayer of a suffering world. Who do we pray to? Is it just talking to ourselves? What happens during prayer? What do we expect will be the results of a fervent prayer? It is easier to say what prayer is not, and he starts with that. It is harder to say what prayer is, which he addresses in the second half of the book. This is a study of fundamental concepts and approaches, not a set of quick answers to flash around when your faith is challenged. It is a book to read through several times and mediate on.

[Emilee]

Read in COTV bible study. Highly thought provoking, deeply enlightening.