Many of us grew up in a church, so those experiences are part of who we are and the rituals will always be with us. It's a conscientious choice on my part to say something like: My thoughts are with you Hoping you have a speedy recovery May you gather strength from those who care about you and so on. In the back of my head I keep falling back on God without and God within which means that we ourselves are God and can pull whatever we need from within our own selves As Neil de Grasse Tyson says, "We are all starlight."

Cool post [agnostic.com]

Even when I was religious, I wasn't much for prayer. I clung to dogma, but didn't feel any particular benefit from praying. Since shedding my belief, though, I don't find myself eager to engage in those religious practices. I'm happy to be free of them.

Absolutely. I have caught myself many times out of habit, starting to pray when in a tough situation. I usually snap out of it rather quickly and it makes me angry that I still do this. I do however think that it doesn’t happen as often so there is hope that one day it won’t even be on my radar at all. So no worries, you are normal.

Given my upbringing (including a school run by priests), I will have this until the day I die ... you are not alone.