Logic's Answer To Religion: How We Get Taken In

One of our least effective traits involves the capacity to deny reality. This allows us to be repetitively duped by circumstances or by the unscrupulous. Prayer fits the phenomenon because so many people believe in it without being able to demonstrate the slightest effectiveness. Has anyone ever done or even considered a statistical analysis of its success or failure rate, or heard of such a study? Of course not. This would be an affront to the faithful. In the event that providence has been favorable they claim their prayers have worked. Or perhaps they say it was a miracle, which would be God changing his mind about his grand plan. When an event remains negative, they say nothing, but none-the-less continue to believe in the fantasy.

A miracle is a positive event for which we may not be able to derive a reason, but that does not mean that the event does not have a simple explanation if we were able to understand all of the circumstances.