After the Day of Prayer and Fasting

Hallelujah, rattle your drawers and swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to bring Texas rain.

Texas Governor Rick Perry called for prayers in order to ask for relief from a significant drought, the worst in Texas in over 100 years.  There were a few protesters here and there, but by and large the prayers were offered up without too many problems, and the level of participation was pretty good, according to organizers.

Of course, that was back in April 2011, when Gov. Perry called for and held a 3-day long prayer vigil to ask the gods for rain.  And because prayer always works, the drought ended, crops are booming, and everything is completely fine.  Thank gods for that!

Hah, just kidding.  Unfortunately, that 3-day vigil back in April appears to have had essentially no effect whatsoever, because the drought is still going strong.  Obviously Gov. Perry admitted it was a failure, because he felt compelled to set up another Pray for Rain thing, which drew 30,000 or so yesterday at Reliant Stadium.

This time, instead of doing a three-day Pray for Rain thing, they set up a one-day Pray and Fast for Rain and Our Economy thing.  People who seemed to be in trances dancing in the aisles, lots of arms raised in supplication, some fairly in-tune singing, and of course long lines at the food vendors in the stadium there.  I don't know about you, but I can't pray seriously without a beer and a loaded chili dog in my gullet.

Based on the record thus far, the score is Natural Processes 1, Pray for Rain things 0.

Give Gov. Perry some credit, though: it was a clever move to include economic recovery in the list of intentions, as it will be much easier to blame any minor improvement on yesterday's Pray & Fast for Rain thing.  It was doubly clever to keep the drought petitions local and economic petitions national, since Perry is one of the worst CEO's of Texas in history, and therefore that state is highly unlikely to hear any good economic news.

Anyway, gods as a group have a longstanding reputation for answering only really really VAGUE prayers.  The more specific you are, the more likely you'll get ignored; the more vague you are, the easier it is to take credit for anything you want.

This case won't be any different.