There's a tiger in his tank
If magic shoelaces can re-attach retinas, then prayers at the pump can bring down the price of fuel. As Alfred Sant liked to say in interviews, when faced with a challenging question: why not? The faithful of the United States of America beat even the Maltese when it comes to magical thinking, which is non-scientific causal reasoning that includes ideas like the ability of the mind to affect the physical world. Having given up on politicians to control rising fuel prices, American Christians are turning to God in a last-ditch attempt at scoring some results.
Campaigners are holding religious vigils at petrol stations across the USA, harnessing the power of prayer, which apparently is more effective if done in a group, the religious equivalent of a special-interest lobby shouting at the gates to the White House, the door to No 10 Downing Street, or those shipyard workers on the steps of the Auberge de Castille a couple of weeks ago. The Pray at the Pump movement was started by a Maryland community activist called Rocky Twyman, a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, when he realised that his volunteers were not turning up to help at the soup kitchens for the homeless that he runs in Washington, because they couldn’t or wouldn’t pay for the fuel to drive in to the city from their suburban homes. “I took them to the Shell station right across the street, and we prayed,” he said.
I paused for thought there, and the question that popped into my head helped me understand why I have never had much truck with religion and wasn’t the religion-teacher-nun’s most popular pupil at school. If they believe so strongly in the magical power of prayer to bring about change, then why in heaven’s name weren’t they praying for a change in the circumstances of the homeless, or for a loaves-and-fishes miracle to feed them, instead of praying for cheaper fuel so that they can drive into the city to dish out free soup to the hungry? That’s the kind of question that led to my spending long cold hours in the corridor outside the classroom, a neat solution to the fact that our teacher didn’t have an answer.
Somebody might put in to say that you cover your options by praying for both, to which the short answer is that if prayer is effective, then you only need to pray for a regular life for the homeless; you don’t have to pray for the fuel to drive into the city to feed them at soup kitchens. What are we saying here, that God takes the easy way out? “Oh, sorting out the lives of the homeless is way too much trouble. It’s a whole lot easier to sort out the world fuel shortage and bring prices down on the international market so that a few volunteers can drive in to the city soup-kitchens from the Washington suburbs. Zap! There, it’s sorted.”
Now Rocky Twyman has spent the last few months campaigning across the US, God having presumably found him the money to pay for the fuel and somebody else to organise the Washington soup-kitchens. He leads religious vigils in which people link arms around petrol pumps and then pray for lower prices. Members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church are not necessarily crackers, despite this evidence to the contrary: one of them was the original Kellogg who started the eponymous cornflakes empire. Twyman told the newspapers: “We have seen the power of prayer in our own lives. At my church, there was a woman with breast cancer. We prayed for her, and she went to the doctor one day and it was gone.” He’s now claiming some success with the pumps. “We had a big all-night vigil in Toledo, Ohio, one of the car capitals of the United States. It was a gathering of Baptists and Anglicans. After that gathering, the press called me from Toledo and said prices had gone down 30 cents.” He got similar calls from a radio station in Tampa after he urged the people of Florida to pray round their petrol pumps. Don’t be too surprised. Some people here hold all-night vigils to persuade God to sort out the lives of their sons and daughters who are rollicking in Paceville while they sit in a cold hall tanked up on coffee and prayer. Giving them a good talking-to, otherwise known by a word beginning with ‘bol’ and ending with ‘ing’ gets better results, but who am I to say? Prayer and all-night vigils don’t involve confrontation, and some people are so frightened of confrontation that they won’t even confront their own kids, preferring to sit up all night beseeching God to do their job instead.
Things have taken on a life of their own for Twyman. He held a Pray Down the High Gas gospel concert in St Louis, Missouri, with popular songs that his friend rewrote to introduce pleas for low petrol prices. Let me guess: “How many roads can a man drive down, when there’s no gas in the tank?” Or: “Give me love, give me love, give me peace on earth; give me light, give me love, give me gas in my tank.” Or even: “Prepare yourself, you know it’s a must; gotta have a friend in Jesus. So you know that when you die, he’s gonna recommend you to the gas-pump in the sky.” I’m really on a roll here. I’ve got to stop myself, and think of more serious matters.
So Twyman led prayers at the foot of the Washington Monument – doesn’t that count as idolatry? – and rounded up signatures for a petition to the Saudi oil minister, asking him to pump more oil to drive down the price. I can just imagine the reaction in Riyadh: “And they say the Muslims are crazy.”
Twyman justified this latter move by saying that prayer without works is dead, hence the petition. God helps those who help themselves, so let’s tackle the Saudis. “We are asking them to have mercy on the United States,” he said, apparently wholly oblivious to the fact that the United States is itself an oil-rich country, with a president whose family made its fortune in Texan oil. “Our country is being destroyed by this crisis. They claim that they believe in the holy Koran, which preached compassion for the poor and needy. We’re asking them to have compassion for America’s poor at this time.” The naivety is astounding: America’s poor are America’s responsibility, given that it is neither a third-world nor developing country.
The irony is that fuel costs are far lower in the US than they are in Europe, but Americans have become so accustomed to cheap ‘gas’ that even though they’re much better off than we are, they’re still shocked by what they have to pay. Also, a car is a lifeline in the US, which is not as well-served by trains as Europe is, and where the alternative to driving is usually the notorious Greyhound bus, subject of a zillion jokes about the serial killer on the adjacent seat.
“This movement is giving people hope,” Mr Twyman said. Well, that’s the whole point of prayer, isn’t it? And it’s about the only thing it achieves, too – a worthy objective. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, of petrol in my tank.”
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Hilarious! Hey, if I was the bored owner of a petrol station where these looneys chose to congregate, I’d gladly display a selling price that’s suddenly cheaper by 30c. It must be greatly amusing! Although on second thought, that would give them more incentive to hang around…
in Denver some republicans joined hands to pray for rain on the day Obama accepted the candidacy on behalf of the democrats for the US Presidential elections. It was a beautiful day and the stars shone brightly that evening. God is a Democrat!!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/justinwebb/2008/08/barack_obamas_speech_live.html
(se comment at 20:29)
…meanwhile, in the same country, while more people turn to God, others get arrested for trying to do their job.
Even mainstream journalists are being arrested. Look at this poor ABC news producer – in Denver for the Democratic National Convention last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tvNTIHjatI
But journalists who move around documenting police brutality in the US (a media obligation) get special treatment. They get to have everything confiscated, not just their own bodies – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q3582Cdkiw
Yesterday, the stormtroopers raided a Movie Night related to the Republican National Convention: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVYPpfh59oc
Here, suspect dissenters are rounded by the stormtroopers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5_YWwlTeh8
And a woman protestor is given what dissenters in America deserve, but when she tries to speak to us, she gets whisked away by the neck: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7MilDJy93k
Democracy activists and even lawyers are detained and handcuffed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rploWB-nPR0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTq_uUlyKBA
This was just a quick round up from these past few days – there are lots more on youtube. You won’t see these on CNN or BBC or TVM (although the ABC reporter might make it on his own station).
They need more than just a prayer, don’t you think?
@ John Schembri: my editor tells me you sent in the following letter for publication in the newspaper, with reference to this particular column –
“Can Daphne please tell us what relevance this article has to us here in Malta? Are there any Adventists here in Malta making a night vigil in a ‘gas’ station?”
Instead of using such contorted and indirect means to find out what relevance I think this has to life in Malta, why didn’t you just post your enquiry here, along with your other 20-odd comments daily? Just wondering….
There may be no Seventh Day Adventists in Malta, but there are plenty of bible-bashers and others who take religion literally. I imagine that you are one of them.
@ Daphne : First may I ask how you ran into the conclusion that I wrote something behind your back to your editor?
[Daphne – Because correspondence about me is forwarded to me. And the email carried your email address and your name. So it’s not a conclusion, but a fact.]
@ Daphne : So you may notice that I posted the comment on the paper’s website before you normally put the article on your website (around noon usually) .
Do you expect me to copy you? I made a comment as a paying reader of that paper . My comment was fair , and addressed directly to the paper which pays you for the said article (the one on your website is a COPY , it is not “this particular coloumn”).
After all I was proven right , there were only 3 comments in a whole week about the article, even though you tried to revive it with another comment which you posted today.
I have my doubts about the behavior of your editor who passed to you unnecessary personal details about me , so that you can ‘investigate’ about my identity.Email addresses and other details remain confidential information to the editor. There is a Data Protection Act in Malta and people in the media should be more careful how to use the information at their disposal , that info is not intended for an editor and a website owner to check and compare the details of citizens. Isn’t it enough that we have two political parties prying over our private lives?
Name calling only proves that you are running out of valid arguments.
[Daphne – Oh dear, you’re not a very good fibber, are you? You can’t have posted the comment on the newspaper’s website because the newspaper’s website doesn’t have a comment-posting facility. I didn’t expect you to copy me. I merely thought it was strange that amidst the plethora of comments you post here, you didn’t post that one – which was sent, incidentally, long after my article was posted here (emails carry the time and date). It is normal practice for editors to show their writers letters or messages about them which they have received. It’s not just good manners, but it allows the writers to append an explanation, add a comment or refute an accusation. I don’t usually bother doing any of that. Yes, you’re right: there is a Data Protection Act and it applies to people who work for the company, who are prevented from revealing details to other people who do not work for the company. I work for the newspaper, and the law prevents me from revealing your details to others who don’t (not that I would have any interest in doing so, anyway). It does not prevent my editor, who works for the same company, from showing them to me – not least because the matter concerns me directly. Don’t worry; I won’t be setting fire to your front door or ringing you and cutting at 2am. I’m not that kind of person.]
@ Daphne: I posted a comment on Sunday probably at around 10.00 am and yes you can send a comment to the editor , click on the right top corner and an Email page will appear . Last Sunday morning probably I didn’t bother to enter your site.I was watching this :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxo81Ok9Urk and was thoroughly enjoying it .
In my opinion you breached the law, you compared your personal site’s data with that of the company for whom you work. Frankly speaking I do not owe you any explanations .
BTW : can you write without calling people names? Fibber , bible basher , extremist , pre-enlightenment , 1930’s PN supporter……… you never seem to run out of ammo.It reflects badly on your character.
I am not afraid of my door being set on fire , I am afraid of some potion you can be concocting to put in my snoopy lunch box , I hope it would not be a mouse head. :)
[Daphne – That’s not posting a comment on a website; that’s using the website to send an email. The two are quite different. I did not compare personal data from this site with an email you sent to the newspaper for which I work. I didn’t have to, because your ‘personal data’ (name and email address) pop up in front of me here umpteen times a day and are engraved on my vision. You say you do not owe me any explanations and yet you are hugely on the defensive with your excuses, having realised that you have made a fool of yourself in trying to ‘report’ me to my editor behind my back while posting several comments daily here. Was this one of the tricks and methods you learned at tal-muzew, by any chance?]
@ Daphne
Principles of Data Protection
The Nine Principles of ‘good information handling’
The controller shall ensure that:
Personal data is processed fairly and lawfully;
Personal data is always processed in accordance with good practice;
Personal data is only collected for specific, explicitly stated and legitimate purposes;
Personal data is not processed for any purpose that is incompatible with that for which the information is collected;
Personal data that is processed is adequate and relevant in relation to the purposes of the processing;
No more personal data is processed than is necessary having regard to the purposes of the processing;
Personal data that is processed is correct and, if necessary, up to date.
All reasonable measures are taken to complete, correct, block or erase data to the extent that such data is incomplete or incorrect, having regard to the purposes for which they are processed;
Personal data is not kept for a period longer than is necessary, having regard to the purposes for which they are processed.
Mentally or not ,you compared the data from two different sources and used it for your personal ends.
I thought that ” comment” on the MIOS website was meant for on line readers to comment.
You interpret things to suit your argument .The editor should have passed to you my comment with my name only. I gave my details to the editor for authenticity purposes only.
I know that it takes a lot of restraint and self control not to write anything about what you were suspecting, but I feel that my privacy has been violated by your prying.
But this is Malta anyone can get away with murder.
(Daphne – Oh for heaven’s sake, John. You really need to get out a bit more. If you send ME your name and email address, it stands to reason that I’m going to see it. And if you send it to my editor, and you know that editors show their staff and their contributors any correspondence about them (if you didn’t, you should have done), then it stands to reason that I am going to see that too. You had a simple solution: to tell me anything you wanted to say about me, rather than trying to go behind my back and getting angry/feeling foolish because it didn’t work. Come on, forget it.)
John Schembri – How do you think that people working for a newspaper often reply to letters in the printed version of such newspapers (as opposed to the online version) immediately under the letter in question? Surely you didn’t think that it was just an amazing coincidence?
John Schembri – Since you seem to be a Dave Allen fan (given the link you tried to provide), I wonder if you’d enjoy this one too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IfoUM6a4bA&feature=related
Oh, and John Schembri – I don’t know what all this fuss is about, especially since your “name” is not in the least bit unique. Maybe to play it REALLY safe, you should try using “Joe Borg” instead.
@ Daphne : enjoy your working “holiday” . Nieqfu hawn , ma’ rridx imbaqbqek iktar!
Please can you write about the cultivation and bottling of capers in Pantelleria and/or the cultivation and use of pistaccios in Sicily?
@ Amanda : I really like Dave Allen , I wish I could get hold of the series ” Dave Allen at large” , I have watched all of them in the seventies .
Remember the sketch where the preacher ( Dave Allen) was explaining that in hell there will be crying and gnashing of teeth, and a toothless old man jumped up saying that he has no teeth? “TEETH WILL BE PROVIDED ” was the preacher’s immediate reply.
BTW : there are qty 4 John Schembri’s in Zurrieq. I don’t want my particulars to be easily available to every Tom Dick and Harry , I don’t want to be popular like Daphne is. But I am not afraid of using my name , I now know that Daphne won’t harm my property , or pester me on the phone …… she promised {:-)
Some months ago I wrote a joke about Daphne on the Times’ comments , she did not react, on this blog .
I hate writing under a pen name like for example Mario (amrio) is doing . Come to think of it; if I was up to something I wouldn’t have used my name and email address in the first place.
(Daphne – I’ll oblige about the capers and pistaccios, but on the magazine, not here.)
@ Daphne : Naturally , Bon lavoro (how would one say that expression in English?)