Over at The New York Times, op-ed guest columnist T.M. Luhrmann discusses “addictive” prayer, World of Warcraft, and the case of Sigfried Gold, an atheist smoker who kicked his habit after praying for 30 minutes a day to “… a god he doesn’t believe exists: a large African-American lesbian with an Afro that reached the edges of the universe.”
You can’t make this stuff up.
Luhrmann is almost convinced to try prayer out as a means for such personal improvement, but also warns us about the dangers. Because prayer, in her experience, is addictive. Much like Mr. Gold’s nicotine.
“Should we all drop to our knees and pray? In general, I have to admit I’m impressed with the evidence. But it’s also true that while I was doing research on evangelical spirituality, there were times when people got so engrossed with prayer that they seemed almost addicted — so compelled to pray that they could not stop.”
Maybe we should start a hotline.
