Herbert J. Muller, educator, historian, and author

The doctrine of the material efficacy of prayer reduces the Creator to a cosmic bellhop of a not very bright or reliable kind. -Herbert J. Muller, educator, historian, and author (1905-1980)

I've never heard of the "doctrine of the material efficacy of prayer," but I get the gist of his opinion. Like many of God's detractors, he clearly hadn't studied his subject. Many people of great intelligence have studied prayer and written profoundly about it, but I don't think Muller ever read any of them. Many, it is true, though not all, wrote before Muller was born, which probably disqualified them in his mind.