Okay, now we're really off on a tangent. Sorry.

While I would have agreed with you completely when I still had some vestige of religion left in me about your attitude towards prayer, as an outsider it makes me consider what that all means.

What I'm getting at is, if your prayers aren't going to bend God's will, why bother praying for the sick at all? Surely He already knows about them. (Note that I am not asking about any other element of prayer -- only the "praying for the sick" part.)