DM:"It was what you said about praying to the dead that fooled me."
In that case, it was actually your ignorance of orthodox Christianity that fooled you. The Church has always taught that there is now life after death. In keeping with that belief is the teaching that triumphant saints can and do handle prayer requests. How those requests get delivered has not been completely revealed to us, but there is reason to believe that the messages are somehow delivered by holy angels.
That's a major understatement. How about saying that there is absolutely no scriptural precedent for praying to the dead at all. All biblical teachings about prayer have God as the recipient of prayer from living people.
The reason to believe part of your statement is where I disagree completely. Believing in prayer to the dead involved believing that there is an avenue to God that is completely unmentioned in the bible, therefore the bible is incomplete.
I know that people that want to pray to saints and angels will continue, but lets just admit that it never once happens in the bible.