Praying to Stop the Gulf Oil Spill - a Commentary on Responsible Stewardship

A quick internet search will bring up site after site offering prayers or speaking about services where the faithful can assemble to petition the Almighty for intervention to stop the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, there's even a site where you can actually sign a petition calling for divine intervention.

The petition also asks for signers to "stop whatever they are doing at Noon" to "ask the God of the universe to intervene and stop the oil disaster."

And why can we expect God to do this? Because, as the prayer points out, "he is all powerful and has all knowledge of the depths of the sea because he created the earth." Oh, that explains it!

Maybe God just needs more time. Perhaps he is a slow worker who doesn't see trouble coming. That could explain why he doesn't stop earthquakes or devastating storms - he loves surprises! But then, how is he able to help so many sports figures win big? They are so much more deserving than innocent children that die.

Sure, people have turned to prayer from when they first began to imagine the world around them and not be able to explain it, but it has never worked - never solved one crisis, or saved a life. Not directly or demonstrably.

While it may seem unimportant or trivial to question prayer - it "makes us feel good" is a common argument for it - prayer can actually be very counter-productive.

If we assume God has lordship over everything, we can, if we aren't careful, absolve ourselves. If God is in control, what can we do? Can we bring change? Should we, if it's all part of "God's plan?"

First, is what we often see in the world is the plan of a supposedly all powerful God, it's high time for change at the top. Perhaps we can term limit him out. And we as humans can get about the work of solving our problems ourselves.

Prayer is the lazy way out - real change requires real work, and sometimes tough decisions. And it would require us to look deeply at what our decades long addiction to oil has cost us. Not only this time, but all the others - all the spills, the wars, the damage, and looming climate change.

If prayer doesn't work, it's written off to mere humans not being able to understand the mind of God. If a problem is solved, it's seen as an answer. God has himself in a win-win with believers, and he is never held to account.

Fundamentalists will deny global climate change because they think only God can alter the climate. They will whole-heartedly support the expansion of oil production over alternatives out of dogmatic faith instead of reasoning.