If you aren't a "believer", does it bother you when someone says "I'll pray for you" or "I prayed for you"?
One of my colleagues is an incredibly kind and sweet person, and I know she says it because she believes she's doing something good on my behalf. I always say "thank you for thinking of me", because I know that's the spirit she's intending to convey and that she cares about the situation I'm in vis-a-vis my JW relatives, but she knows I no longer believe in God (at least not in the sense that she does) - I wonder does she think that a few prayers are going to change my mind? Does she not have confidence in my ability to figure out my own path in life? Is this a substitute for other forms of "help", whether they are needed or not? Is it for her sake, more than my own?
I have to admit, that it does kinda bug me... the same way it would bug me if a sorcerer told me "I cast a spell for you". It has a kind of disempowering effect on a person to know that someone else is hoping for some kind of supernatural intervention that you may not need or even want.
How do you feel about this? I'm interested in hearing other points of view.