We can get psychological benefits from many activities, but that doesn’t mean we should engage in them.

Praying just in case God exists mirrors Pascal's wager, but faces the "Many Gods" objection.

Rationality in prayer hinges on acknowledging countless equally probable deities, not just one.

Recently, a fellow philosopher offered an interesting and provocative philosophical argument that even atheists should pray. As I'll try to show here, I don't think that argument works.

Suppose that you think there is a 5% chance that you have a powerful benefactor who can move heaven and Earth on your behalf. You can send out letters which he will read if he exists. It seems worth doing this sometimes. Sure, probably nobody is listening, but if someone is, the action has very great value. Likewise, suppose you are an atheist. You think God probably doesn’t exist. Nonetheless, being open-minded, you think there’s some chance God exists—maybe 5%, maybe 1%. On similar grounds, it seems to make sense to pray. If there is a God, this action could have very great value. If there isn’t a God, then the action is at worst a waste of a minute every day—with the upside of various psychological benefits.

Suppose that you think there is a 5% chance that you have a powerful benefactor who can move heaven and Earth on your behalf. You can send out letters which he will read if he exists. It seems worth doing this sometimes. Sure, probably nobody is listening, but if someone is, the action has very great value.

Likewise, suppose you are an atheist. You think God probably doesn’t exist. Nonetheless, being open-minded, you think there’s some chance God exists—maybe 5%, maybe 1%. On similar grounds, it seems to make sense to pray. If there is a God, this action could have very great value. If there isn’t a God, then the action is at worst a waste of a minute every day—with the upside of various psychological benefits.

Let’s get psychological benefits out of the way first. No atheist has to deny those. We can derive psychological benefits from all kinds of........

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