Praying for Rain

"We've come together here simply for one reason and one reason
only: To very reverently and respectfully pray up a storm"

-Sonny Perdue, Governor of Georgia/Moron

Georgia is in the midst of a severe water shortage (of biblical proportions!) so the Governor organized a massive rally to plead to the creator to drop some H2O on their heads. Hardly anyone there thought it odd.

Let's just put aside the issue of whether the government should be organizing rallies to pray for water to fall from the sky and just get right to the theological implications. If god (talking about the christian god here) responded to this massive prayer attack in some sort of verifiable manner, it would mean two things. 1) god exists. 2) god is a monster.

First, no matter what you believe, its clear praying doesn't automatically fix everything. If it did, well, I wouldn't have drawn that comic. The notion that an all powerful being watches over us and fulfills some desperate pleas for help and ignores others is beyond the pale. If god gives you the strength to get through your breakup but doesn't bother to drop in on the person who commits suicide, what are we supposed to gather from that? The ultimate fall back is that all this is simply "god's plan." It's some plan. I guess I could rework a Donald Rumsfeld quote here: You pray to the deity you have...not the one you wish you had.

What criteria does god use to decide which prayers get answered? Do the ones who happen to beg to the right god deserve intervention? And is it dignified to grovel to him because he has more power than you? Christopher Hitchens has said living under this maniacal being would be like a "cosmic North Korea."

I never understood why religious people believe in prayer of all things. They say living in a godless universe is meaningless and cold. Ha! If I thought all the pain in the world could be relieved in an instant but god just doesn't feel like doing it, I would jump off of a fucking bridge in despair.

Anyway, I could go on, but I'll stop alienating most of you with my atheism.

I caught this comment under the story on msnbc.com

I am Iranian. I read most of the comments. I am shocked. I can't believe these are what Americans believe!

Yes, my friend. This is what about half of the country believes. And they want to bomb you.