If I like or care about the person, I say thank you and let it go, after weighing the situation and if any positive conversation can be had I might ask them which god they are praying too... if I don't know them or like them I will say something like thanks I'll think for you.

Nobody in my family would make such a silly request.

Why do you have to respond at all to a group text?

there at peace now not hurting anymore.

I usually respond with, "I do hope all goes well for them...this us such a hard time for you...call me if you need a shoulder." That covers you for the empathy and says nothing about any sky god...and offers path that is non-combative which at that moment is really needed. The ones that get me are the ones that send me "prayer chain requests" for some random thing they pulled off the net... REALLY? And keep in mind these people KNOW that isn't gonna happen...but they just can't seem to accept reality(which seems to be both symptom AND problem if that's possible) ... What I really want to respond with is, "sure, I'll pass that shit on to the trees and the grass and the stars and the moon for you!" They just don't get it...and there better not be a prayer request about the Orange Obscenity in The White House...I WILL LOSE. MY. SHIT!
If I'm caught up close and personal and have to do the "prayer circle" BS ... I just link up and say nothing...and maybe think of some of the beautiful places I've been or the best lovers I've known...that keeps it in perspective for me...
If someone is really hurting I am there as a shoulder...if they are being obnoxious and disrespectful they will get a mirror.
Namaste

i have to say, not in direct response to your question but in response to a response that for some reason has no reply button on it, that when i have a problem and i communicate it, i really hate when people say they're sure everything will be fine. how do they know? i mean, if it's obviously a case of my insecurity about something, sure, that's reassuring, but if it's a medical issue, or a financial issue, no, there is no reason to say it will all be fine, and yet people say it, meaning to be reassuring. even strangers will do this. i find it horrifying.

g