When you really think about it, prayer doesn't accomplish anything. When disaster hits, prayer does NOTHING to fix a problem, it only makes people reflect on the situation. When people say pray for the troops, I say give them the right tools and guns so they come home alive. When people say pray for the president to make the right decisions, I say pray to god he's nothing like George Bush. He prayed a lot for the war in Iraq, but he didn't exactly handled that situation too well did he?
What has prayer really done? Is there proof that prayer works? If you pray for rain, and it does, does it mean that your prayer worked? No, it just means that it rained. Had it not rained, religious leaders will just tell you that it wasn't God's will to make it rain, but keep praying until it does. I say one should wait patiently for rain to come, and meanwhile water your plants. Prayer won't water your plants.
No one can prove prayer works. Even religious people can say that God doesn't always answer their prayers. If prayer worked, more people would be winning the lotto.