The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

"Slacktivism" is a colloquial term for when someone does something for a cause that doesn't really involve any effort or do any help- notably, the facebook "raise awareness for breast cancer! post your bra colour as your status! Girls only, keep this a secret from the men!" (which has other problems than being useless, such as that it seems more like a woman vs men "game"/joke than even attempted awareness raising, but I digress). Since it's a term that originated on the internet, there may be some other definitions, but this is the one I'm working with.

With that, my question is: Is prayer slacktivism?
And as an aside: Does posting "I'll pray for you," (or similar) really mean anything, or does it just make the poster feel better because they 'did something'?

Of course prayer is largely on a more micro scale (praying for a person, rather than praying for breast cancer awareness to be spread), so 'activism' may be a bit of a misnomer, but is it action or inaction?

 
I really dislike the assertion that sharing things online requires "little effort" on the part of the person sharing it, or helps little. Many of those "slacktivist" things I do take a lot of energy on my part, a lot of mental health spoons, and many, many people have told me that my sharing things and raising awareness on social media has changed their minds about certain topics and made them more aware of what they can do to help.

Changing the mind of one person is a big fracking deal, and I've changed the mind of more than one via my "slacktivism".

Blogging, sharing petitions, raising awareness --- these are no less than going out and physically doing something, or donating money to a cause, and honestly the belief that they are less and we should feel bad for not doing "more" is ableist and classist. (And the belief that doing things that make us feel better about ourselves is somehow less than doing things that are an exercise in masochism is a fairly pernicious one I've seen infiltrating activist and feminist spaces, and is especially toxic to those of us with mental illness. Not to mention, the idea that sharing information about a topic that makes you ill, makes you tired, makes you sad, but you share it anyway because awareness does have to be raised if things are ever going to change -- the idea that that is a "feel-good" measure is downright silly.)

And: the idea that people who do "slacktivism" are not wholly invested in or devoted to a cause is just another way of creating oppressive hierarchies in activist circles.

That breast cancer "game" is actually the opposite of activism: it doesn't raise awareness and it alienates actual breast cancer survivors or people currently fighting it. Oh, and it's sexist, a bit transphobic, part of the pinkwashing BS, and ignores the fact that breast cancer is not a discriminating disease: it affects people of all genders.

Prayer can be just as difficult for people as "slacktivism", if not more; it can take much more energy. It is by definition not inaction, because it is an action one takes.

Prayer is not the same as slacktivism: when I share articles or petitions, I am not appealing to my gods. I am appealing to my fellow humans. And whether or not you believe the divine exists in every living being, in my experience humans do not have as much individual power as a god does. (Collectively? Sure, on certain things. But herding cats, etc.)

When I tell someone I'll pray for them and their horrible situation, whatever it is, I do not feel better. I do not feel better because a friend is still in trouble and all I can do is pray to my gods to watch out for them. Does posting "I'll pray for you" really mean anything? Well one assumes it means that person is going to pray. And speaking as a person who has received prayers, both for myself and on behalf of my mother when she was fighting cancer, it meant a hell of a lot to us.

And finally, "getting things" is not the sole purpose of prayer, so asking if prayer "works" from the standpoint of "I prayed for this thing (someone's health, an end to oppression, w/e), did I get it?" is ridiculous.

If they act on it, do it for the other person, and aren't doing it for gratification (though feeling some is fine, I think), I'd say it's good. If It's the opposite, I think it's rather rude to even say. In the middle, I can't really say without reading minds.

I'm going to zoom in on a couple of things:

if prayer is the most action one can take, I put higher weight to its value, especially compared to if one is able to, say, donate to a cause...

First: when it comes to taking action as you put it, prayer v. donation is really an either-or fallacy.  
Second: when it comes to placing higher value on a prayer, judging its merit by its motive, whose prayers are we judging?  If the answer is 'judging the merits of prayers other than my own', well, that's presumptive.  Politely put.  
I really don't like the idea of my prayers being 'given' merit on the basis of someone's uninformed opinion, any more than I like my motives being stretched on the horns of a false dilemma.  I figure most people are similar, so I give them due courtesy.
Also: I've never known anyone who prays "just to save money."  Me, I cut coupons.

Does the one replying get gratification from feeling as though they've done something? Do they actually pray, or just say it to comfort the person?

I wonder when it became bad to feel good for doing good.  If doing good things made me feel like a shitty person, I'd likely be less inclined to do them.  
Likewise, when did it become bad to offer words of comfort?  Even if said 'just to'?

Lots of assumption and presumption here.  Why is that?  

Personally, when I pray for someone, it's usually for some blessing or benefit that I cannot grant with my own means, physically.  (Like when a forum member posts about a leg injury, and I-- not being a doctor and not being within vicinity to physically help this person-- ask for a little divine assistance be sent that person's way.)  It's not because I'm broke or don't really care.

Also, speaking personally, I try to avoid making value/merit judgments of others' devotional actions.  Especially when I'm not privy to all information and I don't have insight into the praying person's headspace.  

I'd say when it comes to evaluating someone's prayers, you summed it up quite nicely when you said: "I think it's rather rude to even say."  And also: "I really can't say without reading minds."

I think raising awareness is a very important step toward change.

 

That breast cancer "game" is actually the opposite of activism: it doesn't raise awareness and it alienates actual breast cancer survivors or people currently fighting it. Oh, and it's sexist, a bit transphobic, part of the pinkwashing BS, and ignores the fact that breast cancer is not a discriminating disease: it affects people of all genders.

 
I was unclear- by slacktivism, I was referring to things that don't really do anything, even actually raise awareness- that's why I used the  bra colour example. Raising awareness can indeed be really important, and not everyone can do the same amount of action, donating, or prayer as other people. Those were not the kind of inaction I intended to refer to.

On the actual opinions, I'm mostly just reading them, as I'm not 100% on my opinion, including what I already posted, so I won't reply yet, if I do.

 
Actually, I realized I had more context I could add.

I grew up in a non-practicing vaguely Christian household, and to me as a child, prayer was basically saying, 'God, can I have

• ?' or 'can [y] happen.' So people saying they'd pray for someone seemed nice, but not like they were really doing anything for anyone.

Then I was pagan for a while, then I stopped practicing, then I became an agnostic that leaned atheistic and seeing 'I'll pray for you' made me roll my eyes and feel as though they were really saying either 'look at me! I'm totes helping!' when they weren't, or even 'look, I have the time/space/health to believe in prayer and do it at you! fuck you, kid!'

And now I'm sort of religious again, and I do believe in prayer and other things, but on the other hand I see 'I'll pray for you!' in cases where I feel skeptical of the pray-er or their intentions.

The operant words: 'to me as a child.'  As a child you had a naturally childlike understanding of what prayer means, and you've carried that misapprehension into adulthood.  Makes sense.  Many adults still treat God like a vending machine.

And, as before, the skepticism about others' motives has more to do with your own perceptions than their sincerity.

 
I'm not claiming otherwise (can't really), but I wanted to explain where the question comes from.

 
For the most part, I just figure they mean it in a nice way even if it was when I thought they were incredibly misinformed. Altough I'm not 100%, I'm not too confused on my beliefs or what action I should take, just looking for other opinions/thoughts on the subject as a whole.

Although I just said it's not related to me, I did misspeak in my last reply. I do not think currently that prayer is going to the god vending machine, what I can't deny is that some of that logic remains when I look at other people, for some reason. Since I was vaguely Christian, it especially applies to seeing Christian people, since I made that association and while I don't consciously believe it it's still where my mind usually clicks to 'you mean halfheartedly ask god for shit' before I actually think about it.

With that, my question is: Is prayer slacktivism?
And as an aside: Does posting "I'll pray for you," (or similar) really mean anything, or does it just make the poster feel better because they 'did something'?

I think it depends on a couple of things...

First, do you believe that deities actually answer prayers -- at least sometimes?  If you don't think they ever do, then saying you will pray for someone is kinda pointless. In which case it might be a way of avoiding actually making an effort to do something.

Second, when you say you will pray for someone, do you actually pray for them -- even just a brief "Please, [deity name] help Mr. Z do X" type of prayer? If you don't, all you are doing is making yourself feel like you did something.

I tend not to pray for people at random. However, if someone asks for prayers, I try to make the effort to actually say a brief prayer for their need. Is this a way of avoiding doing something more useful? Perhaps, but often praying when requested is all I can really do -- especially for people far away.