The "Power" of prayer

I had a conversation with a theist on the twitter machine about the power of prayer. This is someting that has bothered me for ages. I remember visiting the Mormon church in the UK when some friends invited me. A lady in church was talking to a girls group about evidence for god. She spoke of an event that happened to her only the day before. She was in a hurry and could not find her keys. Panic! She was frantically looking for them everywhere. Then she decided to ask her powerful invisible friend, closed her eyes in prayer and yes, found her keys. Impressive, no?

Actually no. Why is your deity jerking off? Why is he bothered at all with little problems such as finding keys, doing well on tests, or getting a parking space? As an atheist I never pray and I manage. Sometimes I do well, sometimes I do not, but I live a very nice life. Why bother a deity who should spend his time preventing earth quakes, curing children and getting rid of poverty and famine instead of allowing your favourite team to win?

So these christians tell me that the world is the way god meant it to be and it is not his job to bring world peace. That still does not explain to me why it apparently IS his job to get you some clean socks in the morning. If prayer really was effective BTW, it would be banned from schools - since it would constitute cheating on your test.

The effectiveness of prayer BTW is about the same as random chance. There have been a number of studies, but find out for yourself. The chances of finally finding your car keys in the morning are biased, otherwise us atheists would never be on time for work. Pick something which will give you a 50-50 chance. How about you roll the dice? Pray that you only roll 2,4 or 6 and see how far you get. If you REALLY want to prove this power is real, pray for the number 1, such a disadvantage should not bother a powerful being that created the universe. And by all means, let me know how that went.