failure to detect sarcasm is an indication of a diminished mental capacity or brain-damage

and no that is not sarcasm.

and this is a guy who puts his whole support for an organization known for protecting rapists. love the irony.

besides we know that only true catholics suck up to the pedophiles ;)
the rest are cafeteria variants.

Keep it simple

Religious:
Theist: I KNOW there is a god and I feel the need to suck up to it

Non Religious:
Deist: I KNOW there is a god and I don't feel the need to suck up to it
Agnostic: I DON'T KNOW if there is a god
Atheist: I KNOW there is no god.

It wouldn't be fair to lump deists with theists. US founding fathers were deist, their dislike for organized religion is well documented.

there is a scale; as not everyone one is truly 100% atheist. the likes of Dawkins included.

people were allowed to do so before: there was even a document for it.
"Actus formalis defectionis ab Ecclesia catholica"

Sadly its no longer allowed. Though a consolation, if you defected on your own its automatic excommunication. however that does not stop them from using your Baptismal Certificate as a means to bolster their "1billion" devotees when they start lobbying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_act_of_defect...

I was about to call Poe.. but what STC did is too stupid to be fictional.

I'm pleasantly surprised that that irreligion jumped up to 6% in 2012 compared to <1% back in 2007

just quote from the NORC report:
A survey by NORC at the University of Chicago found that belief in God is strongest among Catholic societies, especially in the developing world, with the highest levels of belief held among the elderly.

we all know the title "developing" is the politically correct term for "third world" and bluntly poor.
http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2012/04/18/belie...

"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires."

and as one conclusion in your citation: placebo. I do not disagree praying for one's self does help since it sets up a positive state of mind, which meditation and other forms of stress relief does too anyway.

praying for others on the other-hand has been proven to do just as much as doing nothing.

unless you want to keep ignoring the studies in the link i posted.

hmm maybe i can add more sesquipedalian loquaciousness into the mix.

cute how simply calling you out on your cherry-picking and laziness devolves this debate to comedy ;)

now we are understand the terminology of i shit you not! let's see what the experts at urban dictionary have to say:
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=I shit%...

it means you shit us not: prayer does make us healthier... despite you know proper diet, exercise and not drinking & smoking, i'm sure they had something to do with those religious people being healthy.

//That can either be funny or stupid of you --or both actually. Yeah, maybe both.//

ooh ad hominems now. reality sounds stupid to you guys to begin with anyways, i'll leave it at that ;)

silly miggy. i read the studies on that little link you provided, nothing in there proves prayer does actual shit.

As i said i just pointed out the studies you provided and how it does not point out prayer works for sick people. and from one of your arguments it seems you believe religious people who exercise are healthier than non-religious people who exercise just because of prayer.

you are also called out on using very old studies. welcome to the 21st century.

nice try weaseling out though.. not going to work.