Prayer and ritual are ways of focusing thoughts and desires and as such can be amazingly powerful. I have no problem using a tool that works and have simply replaced any deity with 'spirit' or 'universe' when I do what's commonly known as praying.
Jan
__________________
"[We have] no religion save for the sanctity of life; no law but one: be kind to one another."
-Twilight Zone "The Wall"
J. Michael Straczynski