> The only point in prayer I've ever been able to see (again, this is assuming belief in God) is praise of God or thanking God for something. There are some problems I can see with these too, but they don't confuse me nearly so much as the idea of praying in order to ask God to do things for you.

This is closer to what I am curious about -- people praying for something: a sign from God that an course of action is correct, a hope that someone's life will change for the better, that this free throw will go in the basket.

The praise of God thing and the thanking God thing I think are nothing but inefficient wastes of time: God, simply by being God, already knows that you praise him. He knows that you're thankful for his works. Why would he want you to waste time actually stating that when you could be doing something else that pleases him?

-FP