Normally, if I came across a story like this one without attribution, I’d assume it was a satire written by the good folks at The Onion. But this report apparently is true as it’s published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It seems a Republican governor faced with a severe drought and a Republican President reluctant to provide any relief has decided to appeal to a President Bush’s Father for help. No not that father, his other Father:
With no rain in sight, Gov. Sonny Perdue is looking for a little spiritual help to get North Georgia out of its drought.
Perdue’s office has begun sending out invitations to a prayer service for rain at the Capitol next week.
The service is scheduled for Tuesday at 11:45 a.m. on the Washington Street side of the statehouse.
Heather Teilhet, his spokeswoman, said the governor began talking about wanting to host a service to pray for rain on his way back from Washington D.C. last week. He was in D.C. meeting with federal officials and the governors of Alabama and Florida to discuss the region’s water crisis.
Perdue, whose son is a Baptist preacher, has had similar prayer services in the past.
“Georgia needs rain. The issue at the heart of our drought problems is a lack of rain,” Teilhet said. “And there is nothing the government can do to make that happen.
“The governor recognizes that the request has got to be made to a higher power.”
I wonder if the Governor has thought about calling any members of the Hopi tribe to perform ritual rain dances on behalf of the good folks of Georgia. Just in case Jesus and his Dad are too busy talking to President Bush about his inane comments recently that he’d “try to try” diplomacy with Iran. After all, theyve been in this sacred rain making business far longer than Governor Perdue has been.
Frankly, I’d like to laugh about this, but the subject is too serious. Millions of people in the Kentucky, Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee are experiencing unprecedented drought conditions. Here’s a graphic from the US Drought Monitor which shows many regions in the South are suffering drought conditions ranging from severe to exceptional:
(cont.)
Of course, it would help if those praying for rain acknowledged that perhaps human activity had something to do with the dramatic climate change which is occurring before our very eyes. Yet, just recently we saw the spectacle of major Christian Conservative figure, James Dobson, denouncing the vice president of a national evangelical organization and calling for him to be removed from office because he believes in protecting the environment of the earth:
Focus on the Family founder James C. Dobson and other conservative Christian leaders are calling for the National Association of Evangelicals to silence or fire an official who has urged evangelicals to take global warming seriously.
In a letter [in March, 2007] to the board of the NAE, which claims 30 million members, Dobson and his two dozen co-signers said the Rev. Richard Cizik, the NAE’s vice president for government relations, has waged a “relentless campaign” that is “dividing and demoralizing” evangelicals.
It seems to me that asking God for favors by praying for drought relief may be a bit of a dicey proposition at best. This is especially so when it is your own belligerence, deliberate ignorance and hypocrisy which has helped fuel the climate crisis, a crisis which is likely the primary reason that major droughts are occurring all over the globe as we speak. It’s like crashing your father’s car while spending a night out drinking with your friends and then demanding he get it fixed ASAP so you can take it out again this weekend for another night of drunken carousing. It might not be the smartest move to make, if you get my drift.
Then again, maybe God is more forgiving than I imagine him/her/it to be. Maybe God will end the drought if Governor Perdue and his invited spiritual leaders beseech him to send the rain they need. He/she/it does work in mysterious ways, after all. Still, if I were Governor Perdue, I’d put in a call to the Hopi Tribal Council, just in case.