Why I don't Pray for enemies.

[Dimmesdale]

I do not pray for my enemies, or any enemies you can define, that are averse to universal standards of goodness, etc. In short, I do not pray for psychopaths, for mass murderers, terrorists, or any similarly immoral or amoral group.

And here's why.

Prayer takes time. Why should my precious prayers, which can benefit many good people, many, many more times than evil people, not take immediate precedent? There are people starving both materially and spiritually. There are people of good will in dire straits who can benefit, and, by virtue of their own goodness, extend that blessing to others. In other words, good people share. Good people are a source of benefit to others. Love is a gift. If you are a person of good will, if you are benefited, you naturally want to share that with others.

The giving aspect stops with evil people though.

Let's say I pray for a psychopath. Let's say I pray for his poverty to be assuaged. Well, good, now he has wealth. What does he do with it? He uses it to buy drugs and increase his criminal enterprise. Clearly, praying for him in that regard is self-defeating, not only for him but for others.

Let's say I pray for his turn-around, his life to change.... This is more thoughtful, but set with immediate thorns. Firstly, I have seldom if ever seen an evil person turn around and express genuine remorse minus some kind of deep religious conversion or change of heart that presupposes divine grace -- which usually enters into the equation only during some period of crisis where things precisely DO NOT go ahead as planned.... Praying for anything material is a waste of time. And praying for spiritual blessing is also 99% of the time futile, because 99% of evil people are set in their ways and will never change.

So, in brief, praying for evil people is usually a worthless waste of time.

Not only that, but why should prayer, which is supposed to be an activity of the utmost purity, descend into the negative mire of dealing with people's depravity? Prayer should be an uplifting experience. It should be humbling, but it shouldn't be degrading. To think of evil people all the time, even if you think you have their "best interests at heart" (which you don't -- their interests are far, far away from whatever you have in mind....) is an experience that can only taint your own mind, consciousness and ultimately character. There are far, far more noble objects to set your heart upon. You become like that which you meditate. Don't waste energy on anything that is truly negative.

Thank you, and hope this was genuinely enlightening.

[Purple Knight]

Let's say I pray for his turn-around, his life to change.... This is more thoughtful, but set with immediate thorns. Firstly, I have seldom if ever seen an evil person turn around and express genuine remorse minus some kind of deep religious conversion or change of heart that presupposes divine grace -- which usually enters into the equation only during some period of crisis where things precisely DO NOT go ahead as planned...

This is spot-on. People do bad things because they have no internal stoppage and because they are rewarded for it. Unfortunately, doing bad things naturally comes with rewards. Stealing nets you the item you stole. Killing gets rid of someone who bothers you. If they had an internal restraint they wouldn't do these things in the first place, and giving them rewards will thus only make them do it more.

Why do Christians really pray for genuinely wicked people?

Well, what you said is pretty basic understanding tbh, so you might not like the answer.

They do it to show God how selfless and perfect they are. They do it to prove they have outstanding morality. They do it to raise the bar beyond the pale. Most people return kindness with kindness. So to up the ante, you have to praise and reward the thief, the rapist, the murderer. Rewarding those shows you have exceeded the morality of the average. At the expense of all the normal people of course, but there's only one thing that matters, only one thing it's okay to play to win at: And that's morality.

This is one of the main reasons I'm an atheist. If God exists, it changes the game, and it changes it from a fair one to a nasty one.

If God does not exist, it's just about not hurting people. Don't hurt people, do help people, and everyone in their selfish interest will reward you and won't dump on you. In fact, they'll protect you.

If God does exist, the game is now not about other people at all. The name of the game is keep God happy, prove your virtue to him. Shine with the brightest moral light and wear the most pristine halo. If you can do that by pushing other people down, of course you do it. Christianity pretends to be about being nice. Nicer than anyone. Pure. Pristine. Perfect. But the treatment you give real people who have to exist in a world of rewarded evildoers, is not nice at all. Doesn't matter though, you won.

Taking other people out of the equation is bad. That's why I refuse to admit that god is god, even if it exists.