When all else fails…

April 26, 2006

It seems desperate times call for desperate measures.

Clergy in the nation’s capital and across the country pray for lower gas prices….

Many are talking about the rising gas and energy prices and overlooking the power of prayer when it comes to resolving this energy crisis. Many of the nations most prominent clergy will join Pray Live and others praying Bishop Donald R. Downing, Heart to Heart Ministry, invited Apostle Betty Peebles, Jericho City House of Praise, Juanita Bynum, Bishop C. L. Long, Scripture Cathedral, Pastor Yusef Fletcher, Greater Works International, and Pastor Le Ron Atkinson, The Ecclesia Fellowship, Largo, Maryland and others to join him.

Dialing into the Pray Live line will be clergy from around the nation Pastor James Dixon, Indianapolis, Indiana; Evangelist Stanley Smith, Irving Texas; Dr. Shiral Green-Smith, Irving Texas; Pastor Carl Smith, Newbirth Concord, California; Rev. Dr. Thomas Walker, Rocky Mount, NC and many more.

Well, I guess it’s probably about as effective as Bush’s energy policy.

I wonder if any of these prayer-warriors are the same professional Christianists that told their flocks to emulate Britney Spears’ “Like, just trust the president and have faith in him!” belief during the 2004 campaign as they drove SUVs with yellow “Support the troops!” bumperstickers. Because if they are, they’re a joke, and their “religion” of “trusting” Bush and “praying” to God is a joke, too.

Prayer isn’t the solution, you dumbasses. Stop blaming your God for your own failures, and call your goddamned congressperson.

  • “Well, I guess it’s probably about as effective as Bush’s energy policy.”

    Actually, it’d be worse. Do you remember that post you did on the research showing that those hospital patients who got the prayers wound up doing worse?

    Oh, and CB, thanks for the comedy! You couldn’t make shit up like this (and have people believe it)!

  • You know, I pray for Justice (for those afflicted by injustice, and to those who inflict it), and for Wisdom and Courage for our elected leaders… lower gas prices seems an awfully narrow “agenda”…

    I guess I’m going for the bigger picture – you know, the stuff (justice, wisdom, courage) I already pray for, and maybe lower gas prices will be the result. But more importantly would be help for the disadvantaged, good education for our kids, fair elections, peace in the world, etc., etc., etc. (Lower cost of gas/fuel is critical for those earning meager wages, so they can get to work, grocery stores, heat their homes, etc.).

  • If prayer will turn water into gasoline, I’m ready to kneel at the pump… 🙂

  • In a related bit of news, I will be sponsoring the first ever Pray Resign, on the lawn of the White House on Saturday, May 6th from Noon to 2pm.

    Many are talking about the incompetency of President Bush, VP Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and overlooking the power of prayer when it comes to resolving this crisis of leadership.

    Wait a minute…I’m starting to sound like Pat Robertson’s Venezuelan doppleganger…

    Never mind.

  • Are they preying for lower gas prices or for lower gas prices so Bush won’t tank (no pun intended) further in the polls?

  • “It is our hope that seeing and hearing some of the nation’s most powerful preachers gathered around a gas station and the United States capital as a backdrop, will remind everyone who is really in charge of our world–GOD,” said Wenda Royster..”

    Really? I thought it was the oil and gas industry…

  • I’ve never understood prayer. Do people really
    think they can jawbone or brown-nose this guy in
    the sky to do their bidding? Was it not Jesus
    himself who pointed out that God already knows what
    their needs are, and not to beg for favors? One
    would think the faithful would simply trust this
    all knowing, all wise, omnipotent and infinitely
    merciful and kind deity to do what’s right and
    just. How dare they presume to know better?

  • More from the site:

    “It is our hope that seeing and hearing some of the nation’s most powerful preachers gathered around a gas station and the United States capital as a backdrop, will remind everyone who is really in charge of our world–GOD.”

    Gathered around a gas station?
    Will they complete surround it and link hands?

    Someone should call the police.
    They may have kegs of purple koolaid laced with cyanide.

    I’d hate to see what happened in Jonestown happen in Georgetown.

    Someone please help these misguided cultists.

  • Oh great, amateur faith-based energy policy, unlike the administration’s amateur energy poli…, oh wait.

    Never mind.

  • I am one of those faithful, Catholic liberal Democrats (I know – it is like saying “jumbo shrimp). It embarrasses me that they come out with crap like this – praying for lower gas prices. Yea, God has nothing going on like genocide, war, poverty, hunger – why not take care of the wealthiest nation and lower their gas prices. Someone needs to tell these fools, prayers are not the same as asking a Genie in a bottle to grant 3 wishes. Truly – it makes me cringe and completely embarrassed. I totally agree this more about praying for their dumb W poll numbers to go up. Again – viewing the world with blinders on.

  • Maybe it already is prayer answered. Perhaps some concerned scientists are praying about global warming, or perhaps someone is praying for wisdom about whether to take a lower paying job closer to home, or maybe some child is praying that her Mom will be able to spend more time with her but the job is taking too much time. Perhaps the high cost of fuel will cause that Mom to rethink her decision to work in the first place. It seems to be beyond arrogance for a group of ” the nation’s most powerful preachers” (???) to think that God is as simplistic as they are. Why would God privilege their prayers above anyone else’s? If they really want to do God’s work, maybe they should work to generate some assistance the the low income families who will suffer through all of this.

    I am always stunned by the arrogance of the privileged. Yesterday Bush got on TV and told everyone to get a hybrid car as though everyone can just peel off twenty or thirty thousand dollars for a new car. I think we should all be praying for these self proclaimed “most powerful preachers.” Maybe they are going to need ice water rather than gasoline.

    As for me, I’m praying for regime chance.

  • Whether you have a belief in God, or not, the oil companies are souless ghouls who only worship at the altar of Mammon. Somehow I just don’t see ExxonMobil having a sudden religous conversion.

  • Apostle Betty Peebles … Jericho City House of Praise … Scripture Cathedral …Pastor Yusef Fletcher…. Greater Works International … Pastor Le Ron Atkinson …The Ecclesia Fellowship….

    I’m sorry, but even their names and titles make them out to sound like lunatics.

    Praying for cheap gas — jeez, these people really have no shame.

  • Oh Lord won’t you buy me a color T.V.?- (Janis Joplin)
    And bring down the gas price
    Or make the gas free….
    My friends all drive RV’s
    So please hear my plea
    Oh Lord, won’t you give up some cheap gas to me?

  • I guess I am the only one to read this article and asked “which God are they praying to”? Jesus don’t have much oil under his dominion, so I am guessing the priests would be praying to Allah to tell his people to lower the price of oil.

  • Pray for world peace? Nope.
    Pray for an end to the conflict in Afganistan & Iraq? Nope.
    Pray for the troops? Nope.
    Pray for an end to hunger? Nope.
    Pray for an end to genicide in Dafur? Nope.
    Pray for the victims of aids or malaria around the globe? Nope.
    Pray for lower gas prices for the SUV’s. Yup.
    It’s all about ME, isn’t it? Amazing. And Jesus wept.

  • Many a Friday eve, I’ve prayed for ice cubes for my brandy. And they’ve miraculously been made available. Singlehandedly, I suspect I’ve staved off global warming for the past 20 years.

  • It’s all about ME, isn’t it? Amazing. And Jesus wept.

    Repugs: the party of 2-year-olds.

    All they know how to say is “MINE”!

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