Your callous ignorance on this subject knows few bounds, huh? There have been studies which suggest that those who truly believe in the ability to make changes in the environment in conformity with one's will, and who focus a strong degree of mental energy in doing so--especially if working together in groups--can effect certain changes in harmony with the physical laws of the universe, and I have seen this occur myself in the past. There is a good scientific basis for this, and it lies in the realm of quantum mechanics, where it's shown that mental perception and thought can actually affect the subatomic world in various ways, sometimes simply by observing where a subatomic particle is. But because the word "prayer" was used, for purely semantic reasons you dismissed it out of hand due to your dislike for anything to do with religion. This is one of the major reasons I did not ultimately choose atheism as an alternative to organized religion when I became sick of the latter for probably most of the same reasons that you did, because I have found that atheism most certainly does not expand my understanding of the universe and its mysteries, and its ideological attitudes are often inimical to the advance of certain areas of science rather than supportive of these advances. In other words, running into the arms of atheism in response to justified dissatisfaction with the politicized elements of organized religion is for many individuals simply based on a desire to spit in the face of religion out of petty revenge rather than looking past its politicized and moralized elements to look for whatever info it may suggest about the fundamental nature of the universe, even if spoken in symbolic rather than scientific language; in my opinion, this attitude is highly political in and of itself, and is hardly rational or any more enlightened than the ignorant attitudes of fundamentalist true believers or Biblical literalists. It's a small wonder that the only branch of science that atheists tend to dislike is quantum physics, despite the fact that an ever-growing number of respected and renowned physicists (including Stephen Hawking and in the past, Albert Einstein) are coming to agree that the quantum level of existence has a major effect on the macroscopic world that we experience in our daily lives, and is very likely the basis for many aspects of reality that have been referred to as "mystical" or "paranormal" in the past. We should not confuse science with scientism.