Unfortunately, I have seen too much of that nonsense. My wife is a psychologist, and for a few years she worked in a faith-based organization that took care of developmentally handicapped adults. Most of the staff were there because of their religious convictions, and all-too-often my wife would run up against "let us pray jesus heals him" instead of applying recognized and beneficial programs to assist them in raising their quality of life.

For myself, I apply a simple method for those with more faith than brains. I tell them that I am fully qualified in First Aid, including the Heimlich maneuver. I ask them flat-out to make a decision. "If I am dining with you, and I see you choking, do you want me to apply a proven medical treatment to save your life, of do you want me to stand back and just pray."

"And I am 100% serious. I will stand there and watch you choke to death if that is your decision."

When you put a person's feet to the fire and force them to choose between reality and life or a possible death and a fantasy world, they tend to re-calibrate their reality meter and choose the more intelligent option.

But for those children who are hundreds of miles away and very safe, they do not have to make a choice, they just go with the crowd, follow the instructions of their parents and teachers, and sleep well believing they did the right thing.

Thousands of others around the world did not bend their knee and pray, but instead took positive action. Qualified and trained specialists volunteered their time and were willing to risk their lives, many others lent tremendous technical support. Those trapped in the cave were rescued by science and good people who took action.

It's an inbuilt defence mechanism using selection bias, and you can't reason with a thought process that thinks if a baby falls from a second story window, and survives it can only be explained by a deity using magic, but if it falls a few inches and dies from a fractured skull it is bad luck or worse, the devil.

I'm glad the children are safe, but saddened that people don't give credit where credit is due. I mean why would a deity allow the tragedy, and put the children and their parents through that amount of suffering only to change the outcome at the end, all the while making sure no evidence exists it had acted at all. It's a depressingly stupid idea, like fate or karma.

The real horror behind this shit is the fact that the little Indian children are told their prayers have worked each time a child is pulled from the cave. The whole process is about turning children into assholes who think that sitting on their asses and muttering a few words to the sky is ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING TO HELP THE FRIGGING WORLD. These poor kids will be turned into adult JERKS who pat themselves on the back and pretend they are good people for doing nothing at all while pretending to give a shit. Watching children being conditioned to pray is a sickening sight.

@ Searching for truth: LOL seeing all you atheists jerking each other off due to your hate of all things religion truly makes my day.

Ahhhemmm.... "I got this one Tin Man" Wouldn't you say using a ripped male hulk body as your avatar in a chat room just a bit gay? And I am wondering, in today's society why you would think calling someone else gay would be offensive? If some atheists want to jack each other off, seriously, what business is it of yours. You know, we have another thread going about people who have an inferiority complex but over compensate by being narcissistic tyrants. Hmmmm - Half naked hulk of a man? Worried about people jacking each other off? And Islamic. Did you know that your gayness is actually rooted in Islam? This is a classic case of reaction formation. (Look it up or find the other thread.)

" The Ottoman Empire, the seat of power in the Muslim world, didn’t view lesbian or gay sex as taboo for centuries. They formally ruled gay sex wasn’t a crime in 1858.
But as Christians came over from the west to colonize, they infected Islam with homophobia."

https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/secret-gay-history-islam/#gs.5RgEO3k

"The fundamentalist Muslim nation of Pakistan forbid homosexuality, yet leads the world in Internet online searches for gay pornography."

Muslim countries actually lead the world in Gay Porn downloads on the internet. Are you sure you are not just suppressing your own feelings and then trying to fight them by projecting them onto the atheists around you who are free to act on their desires if they so wish?

Take me for example. I am completely free to jerk off as many men as I like. So far, that number is ZERO. But who knows..... people grow and change. It's really not something that concerns me. In fact, I never think about it until someone like you brings it up. So.... why would you say such a thing and imagine it is insulting. All I can think is that it is an outward manifestation of an internal mental and emotional conflict over which you are suffering greatly. Perhaps counseling and getting in touch with your real feelings would help.