# Prayer—Religion's Not-So-Secret Weapon by Ronald A. Lindsay Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/free-inquiry-audio-edition-7055830/prayer-religion-s-not-so-secret-weapon-by-ronald-a-lindsay Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/free-inquiry-audio-edition-7055830/prayer-religion-s-not-so-secret-weapon-by-ronald-a-lindsay.md Podcast: [Free Inquiry Audio Edition](https://stenobird.com/podcast/free-inquiry-audio-edition-7055830) Published: 2026-02-18T17:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://646ef2be-1f48-43ae-b5f1-b4ac9bd4e95a.libsyn.com/prayerreligions-not-so-secret-weapon-by-ronald-a-lindsay Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/646ef2be-1f48-43ae-b5f1-b4ac9bd4e95a/Ronald_A._Lindsay_-_PrayerReligions_Not-So-Secret_Weapon_-_Read_by_AI_Oscar_en_v1.mp3?dest-id=4608757 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/free-inquiry-audio-edition-7055830/episodes/prayer-religion-s-not-so-secret-weapon-by-ronald-a-lindsay Duration seconds: 244 ## Resource Ronald A. Lindsay argues that petitionary prayer—asking God to intervene in human affairs—poses a logical problem for belief in an omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent deity, since such a being should not require requests to prevent suffering. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://secularhumanism.org/exclusive/prayer-religions-not-so-secret-weapon/ About the Author: Ronald A. Lindsay is the former president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry, recent interim general counsel for CFI, and editor of Free Inquiry magazine. Subscribe to Free Inquiry: https://secularhumanism.org/subscribe/ ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/free-inquiry-audio-edition-7055830/episodes/prayer-religion-s-not-so-secret-weapon-by-ronald-a-lindsay/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/free-inquiry-audio-edition-7055830/prayer-religion-s-not-so-secret-weapon-by-ronald-a-lindsay.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.