I was a good Baptist girl for so long, and then I wasn't. The trigger seemed, for me, the inability to discount reality and wish on the starlight of an entity that no one can prove, a book that has been translated oompty-thousand times, devoid of context or relevance. I speak only for myself, and I don't wish to offend or argue with folks who differ, but I just have to say a little something...
My step-sister is a devout, born-again Christian. The megachurch, prosperity doctrine sort. And she prays, and prays, and especially on Facebook, she PRAYS (Dammit! She is praying for YOU! Why don't you just accept her Jesus into your heart and you too can own a McMansion, or at least live in it til the illegal foreclosure, and then pull yourself up by your gosh darn bootstraps!) And what I've noticed is, everyone she prays for almost immediately dies. I don't know if it is causal or correlational, but she has a damn fine record- something in the ninety percent range. I don't know whether that is good or bad for the people she prays for, but stats-wise, she's batting 1000.
I hope that she never prays for me. I don't pray, because I'm really frightened at the idea that my results might be the same.
Sorry that this is short, but I just had to vent a little.