Is prayer to an infallible, omniscient God either pointless or insulting, as Voltaire suggested?

Question

"The Eternal has his designs from all eternity. If prayer is in accord with his immutable wishes, it is quite useless to ask of him what he has resolved to do. If one prays to him to do the contrary of what he has resolved, it is praying that he be weak, frivolous, inconstant; it is believing that he is thus, it is to mock him. Either you ask him a just thing, in which case he must do it, the thing being done without your praying to him for it, and so to entreat him is then to distrust him; or the thing is unjust, and then you insult him. You are worthy or unworthy of the grace you implore: if worthy, he knows it better than you; if unworthy, you commit another crime by requesting what is undeserved.
In a word, we only pray to God because we have made him in our image. We treat him like a pasha, like a sultan whom one may provoke or appease." - Voltaire

It is not inconsistent to be a deist but to attack the Christian faith. The philosophers of the Enlightenment believed in a "Nature's God" that created the universe but had none of the human characteristics that organized religions regularly attribute to him/it. Thus, he believed in the abstract notion of a Creator but despised organized religion, which he characterized as "superstition."

To Jewish Girl: The fact that Voltaire, like many in the 18th Century, was misinformed about African cultures and clearly wrong in his conclusions about them does not make every other thought he ever penned every bit as wrong. A reasonable person should use logic and reason to evaluate the above-mentioned quote, not ad hominem attacks.

To Jewish Girl: Ok, that sounds a little more reasonable. Prayer is a means of establishing a connection with God (assuming you believe in a God who is capable of listening to and/or responding to prayer), not a means of getting what you want. Makes sense. Unfortunately, some people pray in hopes that God will show them a little favoritism if they kiss up to him, which is disturbing on sooooo many levels.

Answer 1

Yes, prayer to such a god is pointless. And I don't think Voltaire was ever inconsistent on these points. He was a reason-based Deist who was highly critical of the most common forms of belief based on faith. There is no inconsistency in this.

Scientific studies show that prayer has no effect, except possibly upon the person doing the praying, when it can act as a kind of meditation, with possible positive effects. This kind of potential prayer benefit has not been tested, as far as I know.

As Voltaire correctly points out, praying to an infallible omniscient god would almost certainly be pointless or insulting. His logic on this is sound.

People pray to their gods to win football games. What can possibly account for such insanity?

Answer 2

voltaire also "suggested" that black people were animals and a different species than white people. do you really want to take intellectual pointers from him?

EDIT

oh, fine, fine, fine. i will analyze voltaire's quote. the answer is easy. prayer is not for G-d, its for people. its there to help people feel better and feel connected with something bigger than them. if voltaire thinks that is "inferior", then fine, but i think we can all agree that voltaire was a prejudiced jackass. there is nothing wrong with people needing comfort or connection. thats what makes us human beings.

Answer 3

Voltaire was inconsistent-he attacked belief yet called himself a deist.

Answer 4

Voltaire doesn't see things that way anymore. (Luke 16:22-31)

Answer 5

For Voltaire, yes.
Your mileage may vary...

Answer 6

God commanded us to worship him by praying. He also likes for us to ask him about everything, because each time we ask we are acknowledging that we depend on him as our creator.

So no, it is neither pointless nor insulting.