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Does prayer work? I mean really work? 

You bet it does! 

But saying that does not mean that prayers are the spiritual equivalent of coins which we place in a Divine vending machine and that if we put the right ones in, in the proper sequence, we will automatically be granted whatever it is we ask for, especially in tough times. That would be magic or manipulation, not prayer.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in a personal God – one who listens to my prayers, especially when those I love are suffering, when I am at a loss, or when things seem so dark in the world that there is no other response that makes any sense. 

I pray to that God and hope that I do get what I want, but we all know that’s not exactly how it works. I wish it were that easy.

The one or ones to whom any of us pray, and for the purposes of my question it makes no difference who that one or ones is or what name they are called, is not a vending machine which is manipulated by the user in order to obtain goodies – even very serious and totally appropriate ones. And if one can only appreciate the efficacy of prayer in those terms, then I take back my initial assertion about prayer working.

Source: Fox News

by Abq Jew

Jeremy Ben-Ami (Los Angeles), author of A New Voice for Israel and founder of J-Street Rabbi Brad Hirschfield (New York City), author of You Don’t Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism   Robert Efroymson (Santa Fe), Chair of the New Mexico-Israel Business Exchange  Tickets are $10.  Please contact:  Robyn Weiner  (505) 348-4518   robynw@jccabq.

Source: Abq Jew: A Community Conversation

by Robert

The Muslim world is threatened by religious fanaticism. The Western world is threatened by secular fanaticism.

Both seek to dominate society and to use state power to do so. Both seek to eliminate the Other -- for Islamic fanatics, that means non-Muslim religions and secularism; for secular fanatics, it means Christianity and virtually any public invoking of God. The Islamists impose Sharia law; the American Civil Liberties Union and the left generally impose secular law. The Taliban wiped out public vestiges of Buddhism in Afghanistan; the ACLU and its allies seek to wipe out public vestiges of Christianity in America -- as it did, for example, in Los Angeles County, when it successfully pressured the County Board of Supervisors to remove the tiny cross from the county seal. A city and county founded by Catholics -- hence the name "The Angels" -- was forced to stop commemorating its founders because they were religious.

Secular fanatics aren't bombing, shooting, stabbing and "honour killing" their way across the world.