Transport yourself back in time six hundred years. Look up into the sky and see the sun. You don't know what it is but you know it gives off huge amounts of heat and light—enough to warm and illuminate the entire planet.

As you gaze at this celestial monster there is one thing you are sure of—something as powerful as that and so essential for human life could not have happened by accident—it must have had a designer. A designer who created it and put it in the perfect orbit to give the exact amount heat and the exact amount of day and night necessary to sustain all living things on Earth. At that moment, you fall to your knees and thank your god (whichever god you happened to believe in).
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Returning to the 21st century, we have moved on. We understand our sun very well indeed. We know its chemistry and the physics that formed it and sustains it. We understand how it formed, how long it will live, how it will change over its lifetime and how it will die. And we know all of that is caused by natural, unguided processes.

We have learned so much in the intervening years that there are only a few deep mysteries remaining, such as the origin of life and the cause of the Big Bang.

But one thing has not changed. Still billions of people assume their gods are responsible for things they don't understand. It is wise to learn from history rather than repeat it. Don't be on your knees when the true origin of life is finally discovered. Get up, brush yourself off, and withhold belief until we actually know how it happened.

After all, trousers are valuable, and so is your dignity.

Let's do a thought experiment. I'll start by inventing a god, I'm going to call her Ninfinity. She is very beautiful and she will answer your prayers. Not every prayer though, she will first decide if you are deserving and if you really believe in her. If you are, she will definitely answer your prayers 100% of the time. Ninfinity is very, very powerful. In fact, she can do ANYTHING that is logically possible.

As a second step, I will persuade some Facebook friends that Ninfinity is real. This is not hard. I was top salesman for five consecutive years at Boomah's Pussy Treats. I can sell anything to anyone.

Once I have some believers they will begin their prayers to her. Ninfinity answered her first prayer with ease. A believer was late for a job interview and struggling to find a parking space. He uttered the words, "Please Ninfinity. I know you can find me a space, please find me a space." Before he finished his prayer a car pulled out right in front of him leaving a free space.

The delighted believer, posted on Facebook his success with the car parking space and something even more amazing—against his expectations he was offered the job and he had not even asked his goddess to help. Clearly she knew what he wanted—she could read his mind.

With this answered prayer, Ninfinity's list of believers grew. And so did the list of positively reported prayers. Eventually she reached more than a million Facebook followers. As her popularity grew, so did her power and people reported ever more amazing answered prayers. People survived car wrecks, terminally ill people even recovered from cancer!

Of course, Ninfinity is imaginary, so she cannot really be answering prayers. It is obvious that people are just attributing successful outcomes to her and overlooking the prayers that were not answered. Nevertheless, many people find Ninfinity totally convincing. They love her and are certain she helps them. Some people feel they couldn't live without her and they tell their children all about her powers.
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If you think this story is absurd, it is not. This is actually how billions of people think. The only difference is they don't believe in my invented god, they believe in a god invented 3,500 years ago by Hebrew tribesmen. Different god; same flawed thinking process.

The problem is, an invented god cannot answer prayers. So before you attribute your answered prayers to a god, first make sure that particular god exists. Arguing that answered prayers PROVE your favourite god exists is circular reasoning—you are ASSUMING your god exists and then attributing answered prayers to it.

Flawed thinking gives invalid conclusions. No answered prayer is ever proof that a god exists. Period.