Actually there are a couple of strange things happening in this thread. First of all is the assumption in the title that people who don't want to be publicly prayed for are 'scared' of prayer. Most of those who wrote back about it who don't like be prayed for aren't scared of prayer, they suspect the motives of those who are so loudly praying. Nonetheless a lot of the posters writing about the efficacy of prayer are not answering that issue but instead are talking about people being scared of the assumed power of prayer. Which brings us back to the issue of suspect motives. If I tell you I don't like people saying they will pray for me because its a rude intrusion on my own possible relationship with God, or I'm not interested in a relationship with a possible God, and you say I don't want to be prayed for because I'm afraid of feeling close to God, it means that somebody is either not listening or doesn't want to know that some people get along quite fine without talking to God. So if you think that those who don't like being prayed for are scared of the implications of power they don't know think about the idea that those who insist on doing the praying might be afraid of the implications that the people can be happy and complete without knowing about the power they find necessary.