Do you believe in magic?

DovBear agonizes over whether a public and worldwide recitation of the Shema is magic. At the end of the post he's made up his mind

Using the Shema as if it was a magic spell, with the power to compel an response from God is philosophically unsound, and theologically vulgar.

I can only say that public prayer be-es tzara is Judaism. Period. End of story. No discussion is really necessary, is there?

Is this technically within the lines of an academic definition of magic? It may well be. But is it "theologically vulgar"? Not in this religion!