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DANIEL ORTNER: Prayer distracts us from finding real world solutions

Abstract:
In the darkest hour of despair, when all hope seemed lost, the communal leader called together his counsel of the faithful and uttered ritual sayings. Sounds like something out of the eighth century, doesn't it? Just this past week, however, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, facing a massive and seemingly unrelenting drought, declared that "The only solution is rain, and the only place we get that from is from a higher power....

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J Hayes

posted 11/13/07 @ 2:20 PM EST

Daniel Ortner's bigotry are surpassed only by his ignorance of hydrology and disregard for the constitution (which equally protects a public official's right to pray). All of his "real-world solutions" would hardly fill a thimble with water.
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James W. Davis

posted 11/13/07 @ 2:52 PM EST

It will inevitably rain in GA, regardless of who believes what or who prays to whom. The weather will change according to processes that, like all else, are better and better understood with scientific study. When the rain comes, those who pray (usually as a last resort, in lieu of emergency preparedness) will pretend that divine intervention brought about the precipitation, when it really had more to do with a meeting of warm moist air and cool dry air.

If people want to assemble and pray, which is certainly their protected right, they should do so as a church or private organization, and not under the umbrella (sorry) of government leadership.
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Robynn

posted 11/13/07 @ 3:29 PM EST

Finally, a voice of reason in the press. Thank you Mr. Ortner. To the poster citing the constitution, in fact the constitution of the state of Georgia Article I, section II states:
"Paragraph VII. Separation of church and state. No money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, cult, or religious denomination or of any sectarian institution."

This public prayer is protected by free speech, however, spending state money to hold a public prayer event is against the Georgia State constitution, which unlike the Constitution of the United States does specifically use the words "separation of church and state."

I suspect many individuals have been praying for rain before today, and the lack of rainfall seems to suggest that this is not the most effective way of preserving the water we have, or increasing our water supply via other means.
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Bekah Richards

posted 11/13/07 @ 6:07 PM EST

The assumption that anyone who prays cannot or does not act is ridiculous and offensive. Moreover, the argument that "prayer is known to create false confidence and hope that can be deadly" is flawed. In the studies this article refers to, those who were (hypothesized to) suffer from prayer were those who were prayed for, NOT those who prayed. Therefore, the evidence cited is absolutely irrelevant to the claim that "the pressure prayer can put on our public individuals can yield fewer productive and desirable outcomes".
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