I used to think prayer was really dumb too, but then I started practicing Metta meditation created by Buddhists, and I realized it's very similar to Christian prayer. The power of Metta and prayer is actually the change it makes in the one praying. Wishing well for others improves one's whole outlook and posture in the world.

The "official" way to pray outlined in the Lord's prayer isn't selfish (other than asking to have enough food to get through the day), and is asking for redemption / forgiveness rather than specific goodies. This is the right way to do it.

This approach to prayer uses what I call the "genie in a bottle" view of God.

It treats prayer as wishes, and the only metric that matters is how many of those wishes turn out to be granted by the genie.

Here is a reflection on that point by Pope Francis, who passed away this year.

"Prayer is not a magic wand: It is a dialogue with the Lord. Indeed, when we pray we can give in to the risk of not being the ones to serve God, but of expecting Him to serve us. This is, then, a prayer that is always demanding, that wants to direct events according to our own design, that admits no plans other than our own desires. Jesus, on the other hand, had great wisdom in teaching us the Lord’s Prayer. It is a prayer of questions only, as we know, but the first ones we utter are all on God’s side. They ask for the fulfillment not of our plan, but of His will for the world. Better to leave it to Him: 'Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.'"

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/05/26/pope-franci...

Well sometimes it just helps to verbalize all the suffering you are going through, in that aspect I don't doubt prayer has a therapy like effect. However, even if I were to believe in God, it feels superficial to ask him for material goods. The Hindu philosophy is particularly enlightening here as it says (something along these lines): "If you ask God, you'll get what you want. If you don't, you'll get what you need."

Atheism is mainstream now. The new counter-culture is cults.