Muslims. Catholics. JW's. Born Again Christians. The world is loaded with narrow-minded, often bigoted people who divide the world into "God's Chosen People" (themselves) and "Infidels/Unbelievers/Worldly People" (everybody else that God will burn in hell or kill at Armageddon.)
For just a moment, throw away all the holy books and silly doctrines and ask this question: does prayer work for everybody or just your narrow religion? All religions seem to think that, whatever prayer is, it works for them! If prayer works for every religion (and even NO religion, sometimes), then "God" responds to all people of all religions.
But let's think about prayer as being just a part of psychic phenomena. In turn, isn't psychic phenomena just a part of the natural world?
See:
http://www.petmedsonline.org/record-distances-travelled-by-lost-cats.html
Rupert Sheldrake has commented on this subject extensively, especially in his book, "Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Returning Home". He also points out that much complex instinctive behavior in animals cannot be explained by parent animals teaching their young (as with the cowbird which lays eggs in other birds nests, to trick them into raising its young).
Anyway, this is the simple logic of natural "religion" - "God" is not a cruel, judgemental tyrant who only listens to the prayers of the "righteous". "God" is a pantheistic system of nature that includes psychic phenomena. In addition, this "God" as creator is responsible for T. Rex, mosquitoes, tape worms, alligators, piranas and sharks. The creation and "Creator" are not moralistic, anymore than dirt, rocks or stars are "moraL'. They just are!
The "truth" is nonsense. Life, the Universe and "God" are not sectarian because Nature - with all its real miracles - is not sectarian.
metatron