Prayer is not a waste of time because; it helps people to be calm about their feelings. They feel comforted and that someone is always listening to them. It helps some people relax, centre, and really think through their desires and troubles. This also makes me think about how James said that faith without action is dead.
Prayer may not always be answered the way you expect it to be answered. For example you ask God to make you more patient. God may not make you more patient, but he may give you the opportunity to be more patient. Also if God is all knowing and all loving (omniscient and omnibenevolent) he knows what is best for you, although it may not feel loving at the time. As a Christian that could teach you that God knows what you “really” want, even if you don’t know it yourself yet. You would feel blessed and thankful for what God has given you.
Prayer is not a waste of time for Christians, Muslims, Hindus and most other worldwide religions. This is because what we do on earth affects eternity. So having a strong relationship with God would have benefits as well.
On the other side if you where an atheist per say. Then prayer would most likely be a waste of time, because you are praying to someone you believe ceases to exist. An Atheist may reflect on prayer by observing or experiencing prayer not ‘working’. This can make people become frustrated, angry and feeling abandoned. Eventually believing that god is not omnibenevolent.
Some may say, when we perform scientific, double-blind tests on prayer, and if the prayers involve something concrete and measurable (for example, healing people with cancer), we know that there is zero effect from prayer. Every single "answered prayer" is nothing more than a coincidence. Both scientific experiments and your everyday observations of the world show this to be the case every single time.
People that express their spirituality don’t always equate to god and prayer. Therefore their belief