I'm an atheist. That's nothing new. I don't believe in God, I don't believe in any all knowing, all seeing, all encompassing superpowers in the clouds. That's the best reason why I don't pray. But even if I was a God-fearing man, I'm not sure I'd pray. I don't understand it. Christians are supposed to pray. So are many other people of faith. That's how you communicate with your god or gods. I'll work within the framework of Christianity, because that's what I know best. When you pray, God hears you. My problem is there. Why do you need to pray for your god to be able to hear you? If God is all knowing (we're talking past, present, and future here), then He knew you were going to pray before the sun was bright in the sky and the earth's crust was hard. He knew what the prayer would entail, why I'd pray it, and what action He would take, if any, in response. Would he still have known if I never prayed it?

You could also assume God, being all knowing, knew what I was thinking, even before I thought it. Again, he knew the results of what I'd pray for long before I even existed. But if he knew what I was thinking, why did I need to pray it at all? I put energy and emotion into a prayer, so that He will know how much I want it or need it. But doesn't He already know? He knows what I'm thinking. He created me. He knows if I really need what I say I do, or if I can live without it. Heck, he knows the answers to every question I could ever ask. Why ask at all?

These are my obvious problems with praying to an all knowing god -any all knowing god already knows what I'll pray for. My other major problem is one of presumption. If the Christian God is all knowing, He has already decided the fate of the universe. He decided if I'll die in a car crash tomorrow or live to be 120. He decides if I win a web lottery or stay at my job. And he decided all of this before the universe even was. Assuming this is true (and you'd be hard pressed to find a Christian who would say God isn't all knowing), what place is it of mine or anyone else's to ask for a change to that plan? Why can I say "Can I please have this"? What right do I have to ask an all powerful, all knowing being if I can make a minor alteration to the Grand Scheme? Don't you think God already knows what's best for you and yours?

There's a lot about religion I won't ever understand, not being a part of it. There's plenty of absurdity, but prayer is way up there. Either God is all knowing, and knows what we need as well as what we'll ask for, or God is not, and needs to hear what we want, and can only guess at our motives. Either way, there's a major problem.