Pharyngula reports that a Seattle girl is dying of cancer, and her entire community is praying for a miracle. No, they are not hoping for a medical breakthrough: they are pinning their hopes on direct divine intervention. A surgeon finds this outrageous:
I must also say this: there’s something perverse to the point of revulsion in the idea of a god that will heal the girl if enough people pray for her. […] To believe that, you must believe he deliberately made her ill, is putting her through enormous pain and suffering, with the express plan to make it all better only if enough people tell him how great he is; and to keep it up unto her death if they don’t. […] If people survive an illness because of prayer, does that mean that god has rejected those that didn’t pray? If you pray for cure and don’t get it, and if you believe that praying can lead to cure, then mustn’t you accept that God heard your prayers and said no? […] But if you say either outcome is God’s will, then what’s the value of the prayer in the first place? In this case, it seems, it’s only to make the girl feel guilty and unworthy.