A Prayer Experiment for Atheists and Christians

I am posting this experiment with the permission of the original writer on the website www.theatheistmissionary.com. He is a "Canadian skeptic/humanist interested in furthering a critical analysis of religious belief systems." He expressed amazement about how many people on the Internet (Twitter) ask others to pray for them or offer prayers for others. This post was originally presented by him on July 22, 2009 but I just ran across it last week and was intrigued by his proposal. His proposal is listed below:

"1.Decide on what you would like to pray for - we will call that result A

2.We agree that you will pray to God (or whatever supernatural being you choose)
for result A to happen.

3.I will pray to the ghost of Michael Jackson to ensure that result A happens.

4.If result A happens, you will explain to me why it is more likely that God made
it happen than the ghost of Michael Jackson or you will fairly concede that it is
just as likely that Jacko did it.

5.If result A does not happen, we will agree that neither God or Jacko answers
prayers. You will then explain to me why the entity you chose to pray to
selectively answers more prayers than Jacko."

My question to you, my gentle readers, is "How do you answer him?" I want both Christians and Atheists to feel free to respond - I will not tolerate any name calling or belligerence of any kind. I am simply interested in how both sides respond to this experiment.

We don't need God

Stephen Hawking has a new book coming out this week called "The Grand Design". In it he says that it is entirely possible that the universe "can and will create itself from nothing". In other words, what he is saying that we don't need God in the creation of the universe. You can imagine the uproar this has caused. What say you?

Am I My Brother's Keeper?

An age old question - first asked by Cain after he killed his brother Abel. God asked Cain where his brother Abel was and Cain answered "Am I my brother's keeper".
In hindsight it seems like a very flippant answer, something a petulant teenager might answer. But it is a legitimate question. What do you believe? Are we actually our brother's keeper? Or is it everyman for himself? What say you?