Forgiving them is pretty much a requirement of the Christian faith isn't it?

Mark 11:25
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

Colossians 3:13
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

(Romans 12:19-21) Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.” Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Headnote: I am not religious.

Why does it make any difference to you for what someone prays, as long as it's private (even though there are strength in numbers, but also considering one should privately pray).Without going into the reasons i despise organized religion and the hypocrisy involved, there can be nothing wrong with praying for one's enemies, which is one of the things the bible--and your quotation--mentions. It's not that people would be praying for them to "get off" or whatever, it's purely, i think to pray for them to either turn to god, turn their lives around, renounce their old ways of behavior and/or thinking.

Granted, many Christians pick and choose which passages of the bible they will read, acknowledge, and follow, but i think it a good thing for people to pray for their enemies and those that are criminals, terrorists, etc. Something that gets me, though, is all these people only praying for people they know, people they know who are sick, their country or their soldiers, etc, and to me it's selfish, in a sense. People rarely pray for the millions of destitute people around the globe because they could care less about they: they want what's good to come to them and those with whom they have contact, and never for the people who might also need prayer, but who are unpopular with society, etc.

Whenever i hear of a person who, say, prays for the murderer of their child or something similar, that strikes me as a very decent and worthy person. And not that they are praying for leniency or punishment, but praying unselfishly for the person his or her self.

What harm does praying for a terrorist do to you (or anyone)? It's quite the opposite of aggressive mentality and crusading with a sword or sending soldiers to kill, it's peaceful.

Even though i do not "pray," maybe it'll catch on. It might make some improvements in our society and in the world, and perhaps make people more tolerant instead of constantly condemning and trying to force people to conform to what they think is how people should behave, act, speak, etc.



That's my perspective.