The Power of Prayer

I read an article in yesterday's USA Today about the parents of a teenage girl with diabetes who tried to cure her with prayer. The child died. The parents are now being charged with her death.

I am not debating the power of prayer nor people's right to religious freedom. My post today is about fraud. Money making schemes that prey on the confused. When the Secret was first introduced people were drawn in by its promise to make their lives richer, both financially and emotionally. Sunday morning airways are jam packed with men and women shouting out for sinners to repent. Some person or organized group is inevitably telling us what we need believe in and what we need avoid for the sake of our souls. We have all been subjected to religion in one form or another. As adults, shouldn't we possess logical reasoning and enough experience to know the difference between prayer and health care?

Why are so many people so confused? If you want to give your money away, give it to charities and relief efforts that are actually working to make a change. Giving your money to churches, evangelists or get rich quick writers makes them rich, and you believing you missed a step, forgot to pray that day, or most destructive of all...that you just aren't worthy, perpetuating feelings of inadequacy and desperation.

If we encourage our youth to think for themselves, to take stock in what they know to be true, and to follow examples of correct, pro-active action, then we promote a generation of free thinkers who go on to do much more then we have ever dreamed or could imagine.