I like soberlicious's view. Bare with me on my source but I read Jillian Michaels' book Unlimited and she stated studies that actually prove prayer is effective. Not like "pray to win the lottery" prayer, but prayer for those sick and they ended up having an easier recovery than those who weren't prayed for. I'm not the religious sorts so that irritated me at the time but I'm hovering more towards Eastern ideas lately and the idea that we're all one and connected make sense when considering prayer, just putting out positive energy for other people and yourself makes sense, if anything it at least makes you feel better that you seem like a compassionate type. Out of habit and as part of being human, I spend a lot of time judging other people and making assumptions about them and some sort of prayer helps me to feel like I'm taking some of that negativity back.