I was never a Jehovah's Witness but when I extricated myself from a belief in God, prayer was the hardest habit to break, particularly in times of stress or emergency.
I admit it had previously been comforting to believe that I had personal access to speak to god. Whenever you have a problem, you have a listening ear right there like a personal therapist, friend, lifestyle consultant and decision-maker all to your self. But take away belief in a supreme being and that support system becomes a myth and feels ridiculous.
Even if you continue to believe in a God, it's hard to get your head round the idea of God hearing you when you ask him to keep you safe on a forthcoming journey, but that if you forget to ask him, you will not be kept safe.
It was like a test for me when I first stopped praying - would lots of bad things start happening? But no, of course they didn't and then I finally felt free of the guilt I previously suffered if I had fallen asleep while praying at night.
Most aspects of religion can be replaced by something else, dogma by philosophy, religious ritual by secular ceremony, spiritual leadership from elders/clergy by personal reading and debate with others of a like mind, etc. Prayer can be replaced by various forms of meditation which work for some but not for me. I'd rather read a book, or go for a long walk or chat things over with a friend.
The modern equivalent of prayer is the mobile phone, it gives people instant connection to friends and family to discuss anything and everything they are thinking about, and when ihn trouble they can call for help.
Even now if a family member is late home and I am worried they may have been in a car crash, I hear myself say "Please God let them be all right" and then I laugh at myself. If an accident has already happened, me praying is not going to undo it!
A few years ago on UK TV there was a fascinating programme where the idea was to get thousands of religious people of different denominations all round the world to pray for the same thing at the same time to see if prayer actually worked (I forget what it was they prayed for but it was something worthy,simple and testable) . Naturally, the experiment failed but the programme concluded that prayer did nevertheless have a measurable positive benefit on individual's lives, reducing stress and so on. Religious people made the excuse that you shouldn't test God but didn't give a logical reason why not.
Prayer to me is like astrology, sometimes by coincidence you get the right answer and that reinforces belief. When it doesn't work it is explained away by various expedient means.
Little children often say prayers like "Thankyou God for my Mummy and Daddy and my home and please help all the poor children in the world who haven't got a home" If that kind of prayer worked then by now all child poverty in the world should be wiped out. In fact if prayer worked at all wars and famine and many ills should be wiped out.
And what about the situation where you have asked God for something that is the opposite of what someone else has prayed for, who will He answer? ("God please make it rain, my crops are will die if it doesn't rain now and I will not be able to feed my family" ...at the same time and place as "God please make the sun shine, I fell in the river and have a day's walk home and am shivering to death")
If God does not answer prayer and intervene then what is he for?
Believers will no doubt read this and be able to tell of wonderful miracles that happened when they prayed, which PROVED to them beyond doubt that God existed, but for each of those there are a million occasions where a prayer from someone of true and deep faith was not answered in spite of desperate need.