CriticalThinkingAcademy

 This is going to be mainly about sharing resources that I view as troublesome with respect to Abrahamic religions.  General: 10 Things that Make No Sense about Christianity...#4 will BLOW YOUR MIND! (sorry I couldn't resist) Politics is Destroying Christianity Manipulating an Audience: My Old Pastor Grooms his Congregation to be Sheep | Telling a Church how to Vote, Part 1 Onward Christian Soldiers! | Telling a Church how to Vote, Part 2 My Old Pastor's Vision for American Theocracy | Telling a Church how to Vote, Part3 Training Christians to be Belligerent | How a Pastor Radicalizes His Congregation, Pt 1 Liars, Witches, and Windbags | Why Christianity Can't Excuse Itself from Greg Locke, Part 1 of 2 The Inherent Danger of Christianity | Why Christianity Can't Excuse Itself from Greg Locke (pt 2/2) TheSearch for the True Christian YouPut Your Faith in People Instead of God The Hate Preachers: Bigotry and Fearmongering by Extremist Christian "Leaders" How You

 In this post I want to cover some of the essential components of theistic belief such as prayer and "true belief". I will also discuss some ideas I've had about the nature and causes of theism.  Starting with prayer, If I think about “prayer working” I first must ask myself what a prayer is and what does it mean to for a prayer “work”. Does it mean “have an effect” on something? Does it mean “achieve its objectives”? From a common sense point of view, it would seem prayer is almost always a request for something; perhaps on behalf of another party. Many religious devotees will claim that prayer is a means by which you build a rapport with God. Jesus taught the correct way to pray using the Lords Prayer; the key is to address God in all of his glory before petitioning for aspects of “the kingdom” to be delivered to us on Earth. Muslims are required to perform Salah, which are a set of prayers required by the Five Pillars of Islam. In both instances, you praise God for doi