Kanda Myojin shrine

What if someone in the middle wants to go to the toilet?

Yeah, that should help.

They could have at least sacrificed a virgin.

What if someone in the middle wants to go to the toilet?

It doesn't take so much time to pray.

The guy in the middle looks almost like an actor.

It is through earnest and heartfelt prayers that we can receive the needed blessings and the support required to make our way in this sometimes difficult and challenging journey that we call life.

It is going to take more than a prayer to bring about change in the economy. Brainiac, pray for strength to face the challenge, should have gone before you left home.

Prayers won't change the world but they do give the gullible hope and the credulous something to believe in.

Prayers won't change the world but they do give the gullible hope and the credulous something to believe in

YES, same like Abenomics :(

Eh? so being a non believer in prayer is a cause for being edited but being a fervent supporter isn't?

Moderator: Calling people who believe in prayer gullible is offensive.

Wow!! Didn't know people did this on first working day - thought it was NY day only.....

I feel better knowing there are people praying to an nonexistent entity who enables them to receive nothing at all for the time taken to hold ones own hand, kind of like this Jesus fellow that seems popular in the west.

@Cricky Rituals like that can be logically perceived as meaningless, as they do not change anything in the physical reality. But what matters here is one's mind. Whatever makes people feel better about themselves (gives them a sense of completion, reaffirmation) and (in their opinion) gives them better chance to succeed in whatever they're doing, makes it an important part of social life. Not to mention that if many people share the same ideas they reinforce each others' beliefs. In the same manner some other rituals are widely disregarded.

I think sociological functionalism would have said that it represents the Integration part of the AGIL (Adaptation, Goal achieving, Integration, Latency) paradigm made by Talcott Parsons. That is:

The harmonization of the entire society is a demand that the values and norms of society are solid and sufficiently convergent. This requires, for example, the religious system to be fairly consistent, and even in a more basic level, a common language.

Max Weber had a theory about protestantism and how it integrates with capitalism. He wrote a book called "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism", where he had a thesis that protestant religious dogma supported the industrial work system in Germany. In the same manner a book "Tokugawa Religion: The Cultural Roots of Modern Japan" was written by Robert N. Bellah. So, it's not as meaningless as one would have thought, although the conclusions made are highly subjective. But this is a social science, not mathematics. You can't expect it to be objective.

the Chikan dream come true, is the way my wife told me, she said its disgusting that a lot of her had been groped so they stopped going. Anyway moving on getting Abe to fully concentrate on economy vs nationalism is priority or should be, that apology propose for August should come from the Emperor directly that is what the world has been waiting on for a very long time and since the end of the war, not the Prime Minister. Once that's completed then abolish the royalty. Open the castle as a museum and a reminder to all hard working taxpayers and let them enjoy the fruits of their labor. Now that is starting a New Year in Japan. Hail Hail 2015 Dedicated "|To the working poor"

Cheers clap three times and put my left leg in and shake it all about I might just be as happy as these people. Perhaps a little smoke on my head will make all the diference this year.

This picture could totally be an album cover for the guy in the middle.