Where Church vs. State Goes To Die

Nick Gillespie | November 8, 2007

Via Drudge comes news from Georgia that will likely produce not precipitation but a new round of inbred-idiot jokes:

What to do when the rain won't come? If you're Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, you pray.

The governor will host a prayer service next week to ask for relief from the drought gripping the Southeast.

"The only solution is rain, and the only place we get that is from a higher power," Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley said on Wednesday.

Perdue's office has sent out invitations to leaders from several faiths for the service, set for Tuesday.

Perdue has several times mentioned the need for prayer - along with water conservation - as the state's drought crisis has worsened. Over the summer, he participated in day of prayer for agriculture at a gathering of the Georgia Farm Bureau in Macon, Ga.

More here.

How long until they call in Reichian cloudbusters? But for god's sake, keep pols clear out of the Orgone Boxes.

Comments

|11.8.07 @ 8:28AM|#

Does the fact that I want to give the "I survived Roe v. Wade" girl an unwanted pregnancy make me a bad person?

|11.8.07 @ 8:32AM|#

Silver lining...

while politicians spend their time organizing prayer services, they're not busy making laws.

|11.8.07 @ 8:35AM|#

I wonder if Gov. Perdue is the sort of person who finds Cherokee rain dances quaint and anachronistic?

|11.8.07 @ 8:41AM|#

Well, I'll tell you one thing. When Bill Clinton was president, he didn't need no goddamn orgone box.

Jozef|11.8.07 @ 8:45AM|#

I've heard this story on the local news today. Given how poorly people drive here when it rains I say the drought is a blessing for all commuters.

|11.8.07 @ 8:55AM|#

My first thought was Indian Rain Dance. Alas, there are no indian reservations located in Georgia. I think the law of unintended consequences applies here.

Syloson of Samos|11.8.07 @ 8:57AM|#

The Economist on the seperation of church and state.

|11.8.07 @ 8:57AM|#

Does the fact that I want to give the "I survived Roe v. Wade" girl an unwanted pregnancy make me a bad person?

No, it makes you a heterosexual person.

BakedPenguin|11.8.07 @ 9:04AM|#

In a thread mentioning drought and orgone boxes, I'm surprised no one has yet linked to this. (SFW, but with sound)

VM|11.8.07 @ 9:29AM|#

Baked - um... linky to this tready?

(and you were right about why that one thread was acting crazy, btw)

|11.8.07 @ 9:39AM|#

His prayers have no chance in hell of working.

BakedPenguin|11.8.07 @ 9:50AM|#

VM - is the "this" in my sentence not working as a link?

Oh well. It's just an Eric Clapton video.

gaijin, but if they keep praying, eventually a prayer will coincide with precipitation. Naturally, this will be interpreted as Jeebus hearing their prayers.

Think of this dynamic:
No tornadoes - God loves us because he didn't send any tornadoes.

Tornadoes - God loves us, because even though he sent tornadoes that destroyed our house, some of us are still alive.

Tornadoes that kill almost everyone - God loves us, because he spared some of us, and took others away to be with him in his love.

You can't defeat a tautology. But you can laugh at people, which is what I do.

Timothy|11.8.07 @ 9:57AM|#

Why don't we just finish what Sherman started? How're you going to put out the flames without water, Georgia? SUCK IT!

Abdul|11.8.07 @ 9:58AM|#

If Pat Robertson's theology is correct, a sure way for Georgia to get a hurricane is to have licentious mardi gras festivals.

VM|11.8.07 @ 10:06AM|#

Baked - thanks!
(the "this" linked back to this thread)

and may I recommend pointing to accompany the laughing?

jtuf|11.8.07 @ 10:06AM|#

If Pat Robertson's theology is correct, a sure way for Georgia to get a hurricane is to have licentious mardi gras festivals.

Or they could follow the advice of some climatologists and burn lots of coal until the rain starts.

shoegaze monkey|11.8.07 @ 10:09AM|#

"You can't defeat a tautology. But you can laugh at people, which is what I do."

Ahh, I shall have to remember this in the future.

jimmydageek|11.8.07 @ 10:14AM|#

I didn't read the article, but is this guy actually forcing anybody to pray with him? I'm sure there are other things that taxpayers would probably want him to do with his time. Then again, I doubt that his schedule is so packed with more important issues that taking some time to do this would make much of an impact on the budget. That said, what does it matter to anybody if he wants to do this? Non-believers are just as annoying and self-righteous as believers...

KipEsquire|11.8.07 @ 10:17AM|#

Not the first time.

ed|11.8.07 @ 10:35AM|#

It will be fun to watch the aftermath when the rain doesn't come. Considering the southeast is entering its dry season, Perdue would have had better luck catching his imaginary god's ear if he had waited till spring. Now he's just going to create a state of bitter atheists. Until it rains. Then they'll backslide fo' sho'.

|11.8.07 @ 10:53AM|#

I thought rain came from weather patterns, and moisture circulating in the atmosphere and condensing into clouds, and, um...no? Jesus does that too, huh? Well...good luck, Mr. Perdue.

I wonder if Gov. Perdue is the sort of person who finds Cherokee rain dances quaint and anachronistic?

Well, see, when Cherokees do it, it's evil and pagan. The proper way to do a rain dance is silently, with your head bowed and your eyes closed. And there is no moving allowed. And you must be wearing comfortable casual clothing or a nice Hickey Freeman suit. Otherwise, it doesn't count.

neil|11.8.07 @ 11:22AM|#

For what it's worth, Perdue wisely scheduled the rain dance for the day before the weather report predicts rain.

Space Monkey|11.8.07 @ 11:36AM|#

I can maybe imagine Cherokee rain dancing working through the ash in the smoke nucleating precipitation similar to cloud seeding.

Praying without bonfires? Not so much

Instead of using leaders from multiple faiths, they should go week to week with a different faith as a way to figure out which faith has the one true god.

|11.8.07 @ 12:03PM|#

Instead of using leaders from multiple faiths, they should go week to week with a different faith as a way to figure out which faith has the one true god.

What if the rain starts in "Atheist Week"?

Warmongering Lunatic|11.8.07 @ 2:29PM|#

Go on, keep praying to Jesus. You're just making Rudra madder and madder.

w.e. white|11.8.07 @ 2:39PM|#

Does noone here understand religion? I'm an atheist, by the way, and the point of praying for rain is not to affect the weather, but to effect people. Georgia still has a large, and non wealthy sector of small farmers who are suffering badly. Many people are related to these and so feel they have a stake. Most of these people are Christian. Praying relieves some portion of their anxiety and makes it easier for them to deal with problems that those of us who buy our food at grocery stores don't have to deal with.

Kolohe|11.8.07 @ 3:10PM|#

there are no indian reservations located in Georgia

No reservations, but they still have huge burial mounds in the center of the state, which undoubtably should be a source of some untapped mystical mojo.

|11.8.07 @ 3:18PM|#

w.e. white

You are probably correct in the sense that the governor's comments make people feel better.

However, the posters here believe very strongly in "separation of church and state". A public official pandering to religious prejudice - and it is that - does not play well here.

Add to that the high proportion of atheists among the posters, you are going to see a lot of negative comments about the governor's statement.

Brian Sorgatz|11.8.07 @ 5:40PM|#

Does noone here understand religion? I'm an atheist, by the way, and the point of praying for rain is not to affect the weather, but to effect people. Georgia still has a large, and non wealthy sector of small farmers who are suffering badly. Many people are related to these and so feel they have a stake. Most of these people are Christian. Praying relieves some portion of their anxiety and makes it easier for them to deal with problems that those of us who buy our food at grocery stores don't have to deal with.

Thank you, W. E. White, for bucking the trend of anti-religion snark here at Hit & Run.

Constitutionally, this event should be no more of a problem than the tradition of opening sessions of Congress with a prayer, for example.

With his clerical leather jacket from Peter Griffin's Church of the Fonz on Family Guy, I thought Nick Gillespie would be friendlier to religion.

SIV|11.8.07 @ 6:18PM|#

I wonder if Gov. Perdue is the sort of person who finds Cherokee rain dances quaint and anachronistic?

IIRC the Cherokee method of inducing rain involves burning a black snake.

No reservations, but they still have huge burial mounds in the center of the state, which undoubtably should be a source of some untapped mystical mojo.

The huge ones aren't for burials. They were probably architectural platforms.