Oh – and I posted this in reply David Rietveld's (Wellspring Anglican church in Tasmania) extraordinary claims regarding charity as a result of the Victorian bush fires.

"It is true that Christian organisations have launched appeals and that this is the right thing to do, however to claim that Christians are the most generous and philanthropic citizens is an extraordinary claim. I wonder if Mr. Rietveld has verifiable data to back up his claim?
At the I write this article, the organisation that has collect the most funds for the Victorian bushfire victims is the Red Cross, who managed to collect over $50 million dollars in less than 4 days. Current estimates place the total donations are around $100 million dollars – all to an organisation which “makes no discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions.”.
This is in stark contrast to St. Vincent De Paul which “is a lay Catholic organisation that aspires to live the gospel message by serving Christ“, and The Salvation Army whose “message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by love for God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ“.
Of course, it may be argued that it is primarily Christians that give to all of these organisations (the Red Cross included), but again without hard evidence to back this up it is difficult to tell."

The original post is here: http://godless.biz/2009/02/15/wellspring-of-falla…

You can start by praying if you like, but it's the action that has an effect. Prayer alone has none. It does not work. God is either not listening to people's prayer, or he doesn't care, or he doesn't exist.