Prayer at the Pump

News stories inform us that some groups have taken to holding prayer services for lower prices at gas stations and, in one case, at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington, D.C. While the news reporters continue to chuckle over this, can someone tell me how such a ritual differs from what voters expect either Barack Obama or John McCain to accomplish? That people expect either prayer or predation to bestow economic well-being upon the nation reminds me of the “cargo cult” in some south Pacific cultures i.e., where natives, having seen ships and/or airplanes arriving with all sorts of material goodies, created decoy runways to attract the “birds” that brought so much. In one alleged case, a tribal group heard that the wealth came from a country whose chief – then Lyndon Johnson – was responsible for it. The tribe reportedly took up a collection to hire this chief to come work for them. After the laughter subsided, I asked how this response differed significantly from the way in which Americans expected the wealth to be generated.

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1:51 pm on July 3, 2008