Prayer is the old fashioned word for "meditation" and "positive thinking", and is effective in that sense in which it changes our attitude. Prayer prevents being defeatist and negative, it also helps with paranoia. Like when you are involved in a collision, or a near-miss: look not at the events happening, look at where you want to go: the escape route. Prayer does this effectively. It also acknowledges a higher power and plan, and defers to it. That's good stuff. I am not ready to dismiss Christianity but I am and have always been highly suspicious of it, not least because of its hypocrisy.