A little while ago I wrote about how useless it is for the governor of Georgia to try to pray for rain to end the drought in his state. I also said:
I bet that a month from now they’ll get rain, and they’ll say, “See? We did it!”
Guess what?
But if we pray and it doesn’t rain, does that mean the answer is no? Not necessarily, said a handful of Atlanta thinkers.
“The answer is at some point it will happen,” said [Rabbi Steven] Lebow. “Maybe we’re just not ready for it yet.”
This is bad thinking at its baddest. No matter what, this means eventually their prayers will be answered, even when it’s crystal clear that the prayer had nothing to do with it.
This kind of magical thinking is really dangerous. Why bother actually trying to do anything, when we can just wish for it to be so? And even better, if we wish long enough, why, look! Our prayers were answered!
I’ll note that maybe Governor Purdue may not put as much stock in prayer as he claims; he asked President Bush for help as well.
I’ll also note it still hasn’t rained in Georgia.
November 14th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Somehow I doubt the Governor will say too many people prayed if they get flooding when it finally rains.
November 14th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
What if it rains somewhere else? Mightn’t they claim the prize like a carnie or a huckster? PZ’s got the scoop on a Cat5 Hurricane headed for Bangladesh.
I suppose, when you’re religious, and you make the rules up as you go because you have no concept of empiricism, reality becomes a fool’s paradise.
Oye!
November 14th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
“The answer is at some point it will happen,†said [Rabbi Steven] Lebow. “Maybe we’re just not ready for it yet.â€
I saw a lot of these kinds of “explanations” growing up in a fundamentalist Christian church. I eventually realized that all their excuses were just that - excuses. Anything and everything could be explained away: why did so-and-so get killed by a drunk driver [God must have a reason], why are children born crippled [insert excuse that preserves divine providence], why does medicine work so much better than prayer [maybe God gave us the medicine]. The litany of hollow excuses was one of the reasons I woke up to the fact that religion is a sham.
November 14th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
“The answer is at some point it will happen,†said [Rabbi Steven] Lebow. “Maybe we’re just not ready for it yet.â€
.
I saw a lot of these kinds of “explanations” growing up in a fundamentalist Christian church. I eventually realized that all their excuses were just that - excuses. Anything and everything could be explained away: why did so-and-so get killed by a drunk driver [God must have a reason], why are children born crippled [insert excuse that preserves divine providence], why does medicine work so much better than prayer [maybe God gave us the medicine]. The litany of hollow excuses was one of the reasons I woke up to the fact that religion is a sham.
November 14th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
“I’ll note that maybe Governor Purdue may not put as much stock in prayer as he claims; he asked President Bush for help as well.”
Bush works on God’s behalf (or so I’ve heard), so Purdue may just be petitioning the almighty through multiple channels here.
November 14th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
did you hear on NPR this morning that some of the people came to the prayer meeting with their umbrellas because they fully expected to leave wet??
November 14th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
sorry, meant to link this in:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16281915
November 14th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
does this mean that if i pray hard enough for that Ferrari i’ve always wanted i will eventually get it? looks like i better start praying.
November 14th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
I say we let the South have a do-over with their secession thing, only this time we don’t show up to fight.
That, or maybe 500,000 progressive, reality-based secularists could move to a sane state, say, Vermont and help it secede from its parent’s madness.
November 14th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
It never ceases to astonish me how adept our politicians here in Georgia are at embarrassing us. This plan was front page news for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the day after your first post.
There are showers forecast for tonight. I’m sure they will serve as proof that this worked.
November 14th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Clearly we cannot let the governor prayers take all the credit for the eventual rain. A group of pastafarians must perform a rain prayer/dance/ritual to attract the attention of FSM and bring rain. I’m not sure exactly what the ritual would entail but I’m guessing something like leaving uncooked dry spaghetti on the ground or something.
November 14th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Clearly we cannot let the governor’s prayers take all the credit for the eventual rain. A group of pastafarians must perform a rain prayer/dance/ritual to attract the attention of FSM and bring rain. I’m not sure exactly what the ritual would entail but I’m guessing something like leaving uncooked dry spaghetti on the ground or something.
November 14th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
>
I notice that those showers forcast for tonight were in the forecast BEFORE Gov. called this State-sponsored religious appeal.
I live in Atlanta Metro too, and the gullability of the locals never ceases to amaze me, nor does the power of the “religious right” (my favorite oxymoron).
November 14th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Oh and in the story Luisa linked to I find this amusing quote: “The governor has been focused on the drought for weeks.”
WEEKS! WOW! I’m really happy that my Governor is so concerned about the drought that he makes time in his busy schedule of speeches, etc., to set aside a few weeks to work on this crisis! *sarcastic mode off*
What the story did NOT say is that this drought has been going on for the past 6-7 years. (Gov Perdue has been in office, coincidentally, for the last 6 years).
Makes one wonder if perhaps God is displeased with Perdue, and is taking His wrath out on the whole region (bad aim, perhaps, or are most of the people in Redneckistan just that deserving of drought?)
November 14th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
As a religious man (Orthodox Jewish), I’d like to note a religious fallacy showing up here: “Praying actually causes things to happen.” This error is truly perverse in most Abrahamic religions, where the Deity (YHWH, the Trinity, Allah, or whomever) is not of our universe and not made of mass-energy. Such an entity is under no obligation to follow our universe’s physical laws, much as a programmer is not bound by the laws of a simulated world he/she creates, and thus may not be assumed physically dependent on anything of our universe. As such the only effect prayer (or anything else we do) can have on the Deity is psychological. We can talk to the Deity, ask for things from the Deity, list reasons for the Deity to grant our requests, beg for the Deity to grant our requests, even throw temper tantrums demanding that the Deity give us what we want—but we cannot MAKE the Deity give us what we want. If I may quote an excellent answer given in a M*A*S*H episode on whether God answers all prayers: “Yes[, He/She does]. And sometimes the answer is ‘no’.” Given that a “yes” answer cannot be guaranteed, assuming that “yes” will be given is indeed recklessly stupid.
This leads to a rather annoying omission from this article: What is the governor doing besides praying? If he’s just praying, then he is indeed acting stupidly. If he is also working hard to promote water conservation and get water from other states, then praying for rain is not trying to offload his responsibilities to the Deity but just one of a number of measures to deal with the drought. Unfortunately, the article is silent on what non-prayer efforts, if any, are being taken, so how stupid the governor is acting is unclear. I really do hope he is doing something to conserve or import water; if the Deity wanted us to be idiots, He/She would not allowed or caused our huge brains to evolve.
I do concede that the governor’s public prayer service is a violation of separation of church and state, as noted in the article by Ed Buckner, and thus improper.
Aaron
November 14th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
Aaron, Jesus says in the Bible that if two people agree in prayer about something, that thing will happen. Not might. Will.
“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:19)
It’s a load, of course, but that’s what it says.
November 14th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Daffy, don’t forget Matthew 17:20
“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”
November 14th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Reminds me of one day when I realized I’d walked under a ladder. Bad luck, right? Well, it didn’t come right away. Actually, the rest of the day I thought went pretty well. And nothing particularly tragic struck for the rest of the month.
It made me wonder: how much time passes before the bad luck—which does eventually come—can no longer be attributable to the ladder event? This was, like, ten years ago now. Sure, I still have my good days and my bad days, but overall, I think I’ve beaten it!
November 14th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Oh, and does anyone ever make it *off* BA’s spam filter list?
November 14th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Atheists quoting Bible verses makes as much sense as Christians trying to explain fallacies in the theory of evolution.
The concept of prayer is pretty complicated and the Bible has much more to say about it than the two verses above. God is not a cosmic Santa forced to give anything two idiots agree they want.
November 14th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
That’s the funny thing about this religion thing. It’s supposed to be so simple that even a child can understand it, but the more you dig, the harder and more awkward the questions become.
The concept of prayer may be complicated (though millions of people will tell you otherwise) but the reality is quite simple. It doesn’t work.
The only effect it can possibly have is about as much as taking a sugar pill would have. In other words, it makes people feel good when they know that others are praying for them. I believe the technical term is the placebo effect.
November 14th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
BTW: Just to be clear, the supposed complexity of prayer stems from the need to explain why it doesn’t work in the way it is clearly and simply explained in the Bible verses quoted above.
Seriously, sometimes it seems the people want to treat the Bible like a bad episode of Star Trek. Maybe the show, with its plot holes, technobabble, reset buttons, and particles of the week just doesn’t seem logical at first viewing, but if you work hard enough then (as any veteran Trekker will tell you) it can all make perfect sense.
It’s a good job we have all those theologians to keep the story straight.
November 14th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
It’s now raining in Atlanta. I claim this rain in the name of your Lord and God, the FSM! May he always be wet and noodley! Pooraise the FSM!!
November 14th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
My favorite Bible quote, for those who say that the God of the Bible isn’t responsible, it’s those doing things in ‘his’ name….
(referenced in Stranger in a Strange Land)
2 Kings 2:22-24 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain
22So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.
23And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
24And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
J/P=?
November 14th, 2007 at 11:45 pm
Exactly! Now you know The Secret!
I prayed to the universe that, if there was no god, please let me know this by bringing rain to Georgia. Atlanta, you are welcome.
November 15th, 2007 at 12:20 am
It’s now raining in Atlanta.
And I guess it’s nothing to do with the cold front now sweeping across the Eastern Seaboard from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico.
Of course, one low pressure system isn’t going to bust a drought. They better hope they get a whole month or two of rain if they don’t want to feel a little short-changed by the Almighty.
And I guess if God was actually listening, he might zot the category 5 cyclone now bearing down on Bangladesh (where it may well kill tens of thousands of people) over to the Georgia coast where the rain is needed and people are much less likely to die. Wouldn’t that be an impressive demonstration of the power of prayer?
But, I guess all those Bangladeshis are praying to the wrong god right now, and we all know how jealous the our god can be…
November 15th, 2007 at 12:44 am
sunny -
“O Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make Amends.”
- The East Texas Lass
November 15th, 2007 at 1:23 am
Buzz Parsec: You beat me to it. Though I think it did work for Janis Joplin, or just maybe she had a pact with the devil.
November 15th, 2007 at 1:32 am
The Australian PM prayed for rain and …
“When the gods want to punish us they answer our prayers”
November 15th, 2007 at 1:34 am
Sorry, tried and failed to add a link to that last post
The link
November 15th, 2007 at 1:37 am
The BA said: “This kind of magical thinking is really dangerous.”
I agree. What if in early 2003 the president prayed to God saying “Will you help us win the war in Iraq? If so, please give me absolutely no sign. Thanks, dude. We don’t have a ghost of a chance on our own.”
I believe it was Robert Ingersoll who said “Hands that help are better than lips that pray.”
November 15th, 2007 at 4:30 am
I couldn’t help noticing that Gov Perdue asked other religions to join in the prayer call, including Muslim and Hindu. Sonny’s a BAAAAD Baptist in that regard, as well as being a poor example of a politician who is sworn to uphold the Constitution.
Doesn’t he think that the Christian God can bring rain all by Himself, and has to bring His brother gods along?
It’s also interesting that only when ALL faith’s gods were included did we get ANY rain, even though it’s scarecly a drop in the bucket where the drought is concerned.
November 15th, 2007 at 5:01 am
Reading things like this makes me wonder something; are we not in the 21rst century? Isn’t this an age where reason is supposed to triumph over superstition, regardless of it’s source?
I sometimes fear that people like these will cause the stagnation of the human race. Or at least the US.
November 15th, 2007 at 6:26 am
“This kind of magical thinking is really dangerous. Why bother actually trying to do anything, when we can just wish for it to be so? And even better, if we wish long enough, why, look! Our prayers were answered!”
I’m really missing something here. What is it you think that the Governor should be doing? Obviously, as someone said before, he should be instituting conservation efforts. You’ve already stated he should ask for assistance.
The third thing he should be doing is to keep the populace from going into a state of panic. If he thinks his constintuency would respond best to prayer, where is the problem? That might not work in the state you’re in, and I can’t imagine it working in the state I’m in, but Georgia may well be homogenous enough that a correctly chosen prayer could be a real comfort to the populace…. except for that pesky ‘Church and State’ issue. If he set up the prayer meeting without using public funds, where’s the harm?
Ursula LeGuin wrote a wonderful discussion about ‘do everything you can and then pray’ in an (effectively) atheistic mindset in “Parable of the Sower”.
November 15th, 2007 at 6:48 am
See ‘Sheep Mountain Update’ at climateaudit.org.
==============================
November 15th, 2007 at 6:49 am
“Exactly! Now you know The Secret!”
:lol
How do we know it didn’t rain in Atlanta because Pacman Jones was in town?
November 15th, 2007 at 7:03 am
Lise said, “If he thinks his constintuency would respond best to prayer, where is the problem? That might not work in the state you’re in, and I can’t imagine it working in the state I’m in, but Georgia may well be homogenous enough that a correctly chosen prayer could be a real comfort to the populace…. except for that pesky ‘Church and State’ issue. If he set up the prayer meeting without using public funds, where’s the harm?”
The harm is,
A) The constitution strictly forbids establishing a state religion, and to me it seems this Baptist governor is doing exactly that. He is clearly using his government position to spread his religion. If he wanted to hold his prayer session at his church, that would be fine, but not on the steps of the capitol.
B) Prayer has been shown to be no more effective than random chance, so in a way, he’s really using the government to spread false hope. What happens if it doesn’t rain? Does that mean that their prayers were unanswered, or was the answer “No.” ??
C) Having the prayer on state property is using public funds. If someone were to come to your property and preach something that you think is wrong, would you allow it? If the governor of my state were to try this, there would be a major uproar.
B-)
November 15th, 2007 at 7:17 am
Well, I prayed for rain a few days ago and it rained all night.
November 15th, 2007 at 7:52 am
“I saw a lot of these kinds of “explanations†growing up in a fundamentalist Christian church.”
I did too. In fact, I grew up listening to members of my congregation (Church of Christ) preface or end every prayer request with “if it be thy will.” I can just hear them now…
“Lord, please let it rain in Georgia and end the drought if it be thy will.”
It’s a win/win situation whether it rains or not! Brilliant! LOL!
Jen:)
November 15th, 2007 at 7:52 am
There was a great line in an old episode of M*A*S*H. An injured soldier thought he was Jesus Christ. Another injured soldier asked him if God answered all prayers. The soldier who thought he was Jesus said “Yes, God answers all prayers. But sometimes the answer is ‘no’ “.
Whether you believe or not (and I consider that to be one’s personal decision), all I want is to not have someone else impose their views on me or on society.
November 15th, 2007 at 7:53 am
The point of prayer is to get closer to God. If they feel the need to pray for rain, what is it to you? It works if they feel better about themselves after they pray, whether it rains or not. I will add you to my prayers to hopefully soften your hardened heart.
November 15th, 2007 at 8:26 am
OK so you pray for rain… and if it doesn’t rain it doesn’t mean it didn’t work?
Wait a minute, wouldn’t it also rain SOMEDAY without rain?
November 15th, 2007 at 8:27 am
OK so you pray for rain… and if it doesn’t rain it doesn’t mean it didn’t work?
Wait a minute, wouldn’t it also rain SOMEDAY without praying?
November 15th, 2007 at 8:46 am
Well, we’re getting a few sporadic, brief sprinkles in southeast Georgia. Did someone pray for sprinkles and not rain? It doesn’t matter, since we would’ve gotten them anyway, whether they had prayed or not. They’re supposed to dissipate by early this afternoon and rainless weather will be returning for the immediate future.
So, we can expect religious folks to latch on to this now as proof of their god, since they’re so desperate to prove their god and eliminate the need for faith. That is what they want to do, isn’t it? To get rid of faith? Because, once you have proof, faith is no longer a part of your belief.
Because you’ll have proof.
November 15th, 2007 at 8:46 am
> The point of prayer is to get closer to God.
Then these people have missed the point, because they’re praying for God to intervene, which is a different matter entirely.
“God, please give me a shiny new bike.”
“God, please give me a promotion.”
“God, please make it rain.”
Back when I did believe in an intercessory God in the traditional Christian sense (back when I was, what, 13?), I still figured it highly presumptuous to try and “act psychologically” on the Creator. Even in terms of theology prayer is useless because if God has a set plan, then that plan is set and whether any given prayer would be answered or not was determined in advance, i.e. the prayer itself has no casual relationship to anything that happens. If God doesn’t have a set plan, then the variance may allow a causal relationship but that means that however the world is running is non-optimal and God has the capability but not the will to make things optimal (assuming the prayer to be for a beneficial effect, i.e. rain to an area in drought).
Things are much easier being a deist, I must say.
Anyway, it’s clear to me. Governor Purdue must leave the Vault and find a replacement water chip.
November 15th, 2007 at 8:52 am
To quote The Amazing One:
“Heroin also makes people feel better, but I wouldn’t recommend using heroin.”
November 15th, 2007 at 8:52 am
It is superstitious to blame the actions of the Gods on man’s behaviour. Don’t sacrifice my virgins for your superstitions.
========================================
November 15th, 2007 at 8:56 am
If carbon is not the culprit in recent warming, then the whole attempt to blame man for global warming is equivalent to praying.
==============================
November 15th, 2007 at 9:15 am
I was going to make a joke about how I can make the sun rise by praying, but it may take 24 hours - then I saw kim’s little missive
so instead I’ll make a joke about how if flipping the switch doesn’t turn on the light then being an electrician is the equivalent to being an alchemist.
or how about “If red is really green then you should go at the next red light”
PS. I just now for the first time noticed the footer. He He
November 15th, 2007 at 9:36 am
We here in NC certainly do appreciate the Good Gov for the rain we are now receiving thanks to his prayer.
Maybe if you didn’t support this un-Christian war you would have actually gotten some rain.
November 15th, 2007 at 10:30 am
It seems to me that those who claim to be “open minded” are the quickest to be critical of fundamentalist and are VERY vocal about it…. not very open minded if you ask me. The Governor didn’t stick a gun to anyone’s head and tell them to pray. As a Christian, i’m forced to listen to all the, for lack of a better term, politically correct stuff that’s shoved down my throat every day, yet if I decided get down on my knees and pray in public, there would be a hoard of “open minded” “free thinkers” starting a picket line to have me removed. Apparently Free speech isn’t for everyone anymore, just for people who don’t believe in God & Jesus.
I saw a sign outside a veterinarian’s office the other day “Be careful, you can be so open minded your brains will fall out”
November 15th, 2007 at 11:01 am
Hey Sherry, I’m not sure what this issue has to do with being open-minded. If the Governor did more than ask people to pray (which would have been okay, as long as he didn’t start invoking the name of Jesus, Allah, or some other sectarian entity), he organized a prayer vigil on government property, in government time, using government money. The argument is that what he did is not Constitutional, not that people are being closed-minded about the affair.
Nobody is challenging your right to get down on your knees and pray in public (though I believe the Bible admonishes people about such things, ironically), just don’t do it at the taxpayers’ expense.
If the Governor of Georgia started holding Muslim prayer services in the Capitol building, how long do you think it would be before thousands of Christians would be outside the doors howling and baying for his blood? Works both ways, you know.
November 15th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Sherry,
You have a right to pray at home, at church, or even in public, and I will defend that right. What this man as Governor does not have the right to do is say, “I’m Baptist, and I’m going to pass laws based on my Baptist beliefs.” That’s what we are worried about. This government prayer a step in the wrong direction.
Again, why couldn’t he lead his prayer session at church?
And please, don’t try to play Christians as the wounded victim. There have been too many instances where freedoms were denied for the non-believers.
Whether there is a god or not is something that the government shall have no part in FORCING upon the people. Not as long as the First Amendment exists.
November 15th, 2007 at 11:27 am
> # Aaron Luchkoon 14 Nov 2007 at 8:17 pm
>
> Clearly we cannot let the governor’s prayers take all the credit for the
> eventual rain. A group of pastafarians must perform a rain
> prayer/dance/ritual to attract the attention of FSM and bring rain. I’m
> not sure exactly what the ritual would entail but I’m guessing
> something like leaving uncooked dry spaghetti on the ground or
> something.
Like most Pastafarian rituals, the Ritual of Rain requires a feast that must begin at a time chosen by the FSM Himself.
The FSM will signal when the time is right for the Feast by extending His Noodly Appendage and touching a cloud, causing the blessed cloud to shed its rain. You must then collect a potful of the blessed rain water, add salt, then bring it to boil. Add your preferred sacred pasta as listed in the sacred texts of our Prophet: Saint Boyardee.
The sacred pasta will be ready when the Miracle of Pastal Levitation occurs. Blanket the sacred pasta in the warm embrace of the heated sauce. Then rejoice in the gaze of His Noodliness as you partake in His Bounty.
rAmen.
November 15th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Sherry, please see #4 here for what it means to be open minded (and all the rest of it for some other useful information):
http://rockstarramblings.blogspot.com/2006/05/doggerel-index-suggestions.html
November 15th, 2007 at 11:41 am
it rained like hell in my neighborhood (east atlanta) last night. now we’ll never hear the end of it.
now if it will just rain like hell for a couple months straight (40 days and nights would be a good start), then we might get our reservoirs back up to normal.
November 15th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
AND, last night ABC Nightly News closed their program with a “feel good” item about the gov. and the plea for intercessory prayer…Great Googa Mooga.
November 15th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
>”What is the governor doing besides praying?”
There were rumors of the release of a whole lot of butterflies.
November 15th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Mike R.,”The concept of prayer is pretty complicated and the Bible has much more to say about it than the two verses above. God is not a cosmic Santa forced to give anything two idiots agree they want.”
But the bible—in fact Jesus himself— says exactly that (without the Santa reference). The fact that it contradicts itself elsewhere is hardly a ringing endorsement for its divinity.
What, your God can’t even write a simple, declarative sentence? That’s just sad.
November 15th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
It’s just the endless arguing thing. We always have to find some way to protect our stance, even if it means getting us to bend like rubber dolls around the obstacles of evidence. (I mean bending the truth so that it forces the hypothesis to be verified) On a better side, I think praying might be good for at least cheering the people up and being optimistic or something like that.
November 15th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
That explains the typhoon in Bangladesh!
— CV
November 15th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
The cold front that brought rain to Georgia wreaked havoc for the rest of us:
“Storms hit elsewhere in the Southeast, injuring at least nine in Tennessee.
In Kentucky, a tornado hit a rural stretch of the southeastern part of the state Wednesday afternoon. No injuries were reported.
“It was real intense,” Laurel County Sheriff Fred Yaden said. “The winds were really strong, and the rain was coming in gushes.”"
This irresponsible praying by the government of Georgia has to be stopped.
“Dear God, let it rain” is not nearly specific enough, and would never pass legal muster. Perhaps those injured in Tennessee can file a class action lawsuit against the praying masses of Georgia for the damages, injuries and trauma they suffered as a direct and irrefutable consequence of those prayers.
Obviously, the prayer should have been phrased far more specifically and responsibly:
“Dear God, please deliver between 2 and 5 inches of rain, in increments not to exceed .03 inches per hour, beginning in a period not to exceed one week, and proceeding for a period not to exceed three weeks, not to extend beyond the territory of the state of Georgia, and not accompanied by any wind, hail, or lightning. Please note, God, that any injuries or damage occurring as a result of any precipitation you in your mercy decide to allot to the sovereign state of Georgia is not in any way the responsibility of the religious people undersigned, and that this prayer can in no way be interpreted to endorse flash flooding, soil erosion, car accidents, leaky roofs, or ruined leather coats. In your name we pray, Amen.”
As it stands though, “please rain, that is all”, this looks like a liability nightmare. I mean, IF the prayer actually worked. So… religious Georgians, did the prayer actually work?
November 15th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Yes! And if I wish (sorry, pray) for long enough, I’ll be able to walk through a wall. It will happen sooner or later, so says probability, so all I have to do is keep praying. And keep smashing myself against the wall in the meantime.
November 15th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Actually, I know Rabbi Lebow personally, and I can tell you he is definitely not one to believe that he needed an umbrella. His answer “that eventually it will rain” sounds the way I remember him from college. Let’s face it he is right, eventually it will rain in Atlanta, with or without prayer.
By the way this is one cool rabbi, he doesn’t believe in an afterlife and I remember him enjoying his Mcdonald’s cheesburger while I ate a Filet of Fish sandwich.
November 15th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.†(Matthew 18:19)
So what happens if two people pray for rain and another two pray for NO rain?
November 15th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Funny how it still rains in Dover even though they voted God out of the city.
November 15th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
“So what happens if two people pray for rain and another two pray for NO rain?”
God develops facial tics?
November 16th, 2007 at 1:16 am
Moose -
Is the warm sacred sauce tomato-based?
And does that mean Fettucini Alfredo is the Anti-pasto?
November 16th, 2007 at 4:29 am
Buzz, the FSM makes no restrictions on the sauce. It’s all good to Him.
rAmen.
November 16th, 2007 at 9:47 am
best video on teh stupidity of prayer ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk6ILZAaAMI
November 16th, 2007 at 9:48 am
best video on the stupidity of prayer ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk6ILZAaAMI
November 16th, 2007 at 11:46 am
I live in Atlanta and recently became an athiest after a long, fruitless stint of adhering to the concept of God. Hearing the governor of my state pray for rain made me shake my head and sigh. This guy gets to make political decisions affecting me and my livelihood…