Hurricane! Let the Blame Game and Prayer Fest Begin!

“God of the Universe, at the dawn of creation, your Spirit breathed on the waters, making them the wellspring of all holiness. You created the oceans and rivers, and all that dwell within them, and at your word the wind and the waves were born. ... Creator God, we ask you to calm the wind and the waves of the approaching hurricane, and spare those in its path from harm.” 

So read a couple of sentences from a rather extensive prayer offered by a Catholic priest columnist on the Huffington Post in advance of hurricane Sandy’s land fall.  It could have as well been offered by a 4th century Finnish pagan priest invoking Thor.

Over the past few days thousands of prayers were posted to online news services and blogs by priests, pastors, televangelists, the pope, as well as devout layman, all in an effort to influence their god’s action and have him intercede, or refrain. “Oh sweet Jesus, as you calmed the waters of Galilee, so too send Sandy back from whence she came...” was a particularly memorable appeal by a woman on the HuffPost at the height of the storm. I guess she hadn't considered what the impact would be if “she”/Sandy were to reverse course. (I suppose finding a way to use the word “whence” was of greater import).

In addition, and as expected, some religious purveyors of ignorance offered their explanation for why god was venting his wrath via Sandy ... those darn homosexuals, of course. God it seems is incapable of expressing itself except by dispensing death and disaster.

So, how'd all that praying pay off now that the storm has come and gone? Eighty plus dead.  An estimated twenty-billion dollars in damage. People suffering and homeless.  We can imagine the faithful will respond that without prayer god wouldn't have finally intervened and the number of dead would have been higher, the financial losses greater.   Do, tell ... how does one measure the net death/loss avoidance attributable to prayer and god’s reconsideration and reversal of course?  I guess we will have to take it on faith that their god’s blood lust was satiated with just a few dozen deaths thanks to the prayers of the faithful.  

This mindlessness that creeps out of the woodwork every time there is a natural disaster is the most grotesque example of religionists' refusal to accept modernity and their need to throw gasoline on the embers of superstition. It invariably follows the same predictable path: Blaming it on god’s dissatisfaction with gay unions;  praying for the storm to subside (as though it wouldn't otherwise); praying for the victims that invariably die anyway; then claiming that prayers were answered and actually accomplished something meaningful and measurable. 

Three hundred years into the scientific age - even though science knows and explains what causes storms and can accurately predict their path and duration- still the mindless sooth saying shaman of, and slaves to religion babble their ignorance and invoke a spirit to deliver them like bronze age / pre-scientific pagans praying to the gods of wind, rain, thunder, lightning and chaos. 

Religionists disgust me with their willingness to exemplify the basest example of self imposed delusion and not even be embarrassed by it. It frightens me that they can vote, hold public office, and actually breed. I’m horrified that they can so readily find a public platform to spew their prejudice and foolishness.

If a million baaing sheep offer their prayers in lieu of a single $10 contribution to the Red Cross, they do less than nothing other than gain some self satisfaction by resting on the laurels of their good but useless intentions. And if only two hateful shamans can grab the media spotlight to profess god’s murderous disgust with homosexuality, it fans the fires of hate and reinforces blame in the mini-minds of the religiously unbalanced.

The most religious who infest this nation are the scary clowns of the modern era, and thus provide some comic relief. But the harm done far outweighs the entertainment value.  The best we can hope for is that their hackneyed prayers and rhetoric help drive some of their borderline brethren toward reason.  We’ll never know, we can only hope.