It's curious, but not surprising, that you see evidence that undermines your stance is irrelevant or unimportant, when in fact (IMHO) it is entirely the point. It shows that what you're citing as evidence is unreliable.
As it happens, I don't see religion as entirely anti-science: for example, I know that it was the astronomy of the Vatican that showed that the length of a year was slightly more than 365 days, hence the leap year and switch to the Gregorian calendar in 1582. Religions, however, tend to fit their "science" into how it meshes with their religion - if you like, how god does things. I suppose, if you want to consider my view as narrow because it's not complicated (or driven) by a need to fit it into a religious framework, then that's true.
As for the fasting and stuff - no, never done it for any reason. I did once reduce what I was eating to lose a bit of weight, but just reduced, not fasted.
Prayers being responded to at different speeds to teach patience - sorry, but that's just a cop out. As with astrology, to show that it's true, one needs cause and effect. You need the same reaction or response every time you do something. The alternative to "god has a plan and we don't know what it is, but it's all for our benefit" is that no-one's listening, and for me, it's just as credible. Does praying for the right dice on CC ever help? Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't.
