Some people think we don’t have a prayer of gas prices dipping below $3.00 for a good long haul. These parishioners holding hands around a Shell station beg to differ. They’re part of a group called “Pray At The Pump,” organizing prayer-circles at various DC area gas stations, hoping to goad divine intervention into lowering gas prices. I wonder if they carpooled to the rendezvous point.
Activists Keep the Faith, if Not Their Money [Washington Post] (Thanks to ejangles!)
More From Consumerist
-
Gas Station Owners Protest Lukoil Price Discrepancies By Ratcheting Fuel Up To $9.99 Per Gallon
-
Gas Station Responds To Higher Gas Prices By Turning Off Pumps
-
Get Fueled Up Before Turkey Day: National Average Gas Prices Could Hit Record High
-
California Relaxes Smog Controls In Effort To Bring Down Gas Prices
-
Sandy Prompts Panic At The Gas Pump, Things Get Heated As Customers Rush To Fill Up
Excuse me while I go over there and laugh very hard.
Aaah, christians.
PS: I remember that a while ago there was a prayer for rain. What they got was a massive flood. You may want to rethink that strategy, guys. God’s cruel.
Is it just me or is Religion the new free licence for people to act like arses the world over..?
Given their egregiously high prices compared to stations just across the boundaries, in NoVA and Maryland, why would anyone patronize the 3 or 4 stations that actually reside within the district. Even the cabbies don’t buy gas in the District unless they have to.
.
MMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm, you can just TASTE the selfishness.
(which, BTW, tastes just like particle chicken breasts)
@HurtsSoGood: The worlds larget oil deposit is actually under Canada, not the mideast.
@rmric0: See above
@Peeved Guy: Crap, in my haste I skimmed the article too fast. Disregard that post.
But, my point is that all it would take for us to reduce or eliminate our depenbdace on foreifn oil is to exploit the resources that we have at hand, ANWR, off shore oil, shale oil in the Rockies, etc. No doubt an unpopular POV, but that’s what it would take.
@Noris159:
What research would that be, eh? Ever heard of switch grass? Ever heard of the decreasing petroleum reserves around the world? What are earth are you talking about?
@Peeved Guy:
Still stuck on petroleum….
The answer is to find new technologies, not to rape the earth of the remaining scraps of petroleum.
I thought their “jeezus” went all over Israel on foot and trudged up a hill carrying a twelve foot tall cross that would weigh in the region of 500 pounds. These idiots can’t carry their groceries home or even ride a bike.
So much for “walking with jeezus”. It’s all talk and as little action as possible.
dear god,
As much as we humans have done to fuck up the planet, can we have more oil to burn and pollute the planet more so we can with out a doubt start the end of human existance.
thanks in advance…
@danseuse322: “but I don’t think God is upset over people who do. Mean spiritedness probably upsets him far more.”
That’s the funny thing about “God”: how would anybody know if he/she/it is upset about anything? I mean, it’s not like you have any evidence of any correllation between real-world events and… well, your spiritual belief in events. Yeah, maybe the old-bearded-man-on-a-cloud in your fantasies is upset but frankly “God” SHOULD be upset about babies dying of starvation, but he/she/it doesn’t intervene — so why should “God” then intervene to lower gas prices??? But it’s a good thing “God” gets upset at “mean spiritedness”. Yeah, that makes complete sense.
If God doesn’t step in to stop wars, famine, etc., Then i highly doubt he’ll be stepping in to make sure your H2 gets an affordable tank of gas.
@chuck0008:
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
The most concise and eloquent explanation I have seen in a LONG time about what “Christianity” really means.
One of the tenets of Christianity is the fact that we were created in God’s OWN IMAGE. This means much, much more than physical appearance (and it’s debatable whether the scriptures were even referring to physical appearance-it seems very unlikely that God resembles a kindly older gentleman with white hair, as is generally protrayed in art). To me, this means that our human intellegence, deductive/inductive reasoning abilities, drive to create things, emotions, and sense of empathy for those suffering are all traits posessed by God himself. Therefore, God HAS ALREADY GIVEN US EVERYTHING WE NEED TO SOLVE OUR OWN PROBLEMS. I actually believe I’m insulting God if I pray for something that is basically a selfish request (such as cheap gas); God gave me the abilities I have, and if I don’t fully take advantage of those abilities I’m being lazy and ungrateful for the capabilities I have been given.
A good biblical illustration is Paul. He repeatedly wrote of a “thorn in his side” that God persistently refused to remove. What God was trying to get across was the fact that His grace alone (the death of Christ for the atonement of sins) was sufficient. Basically, God has already done the most wonderus thing imaginable by offering a path to forgiveness and “eternal” life that involves faith alone, and “owes” us abosolutely nothing more. The “greatness” of anything else He could do for us would pale infinitely in comparison to the promise of eternal life.
I believe the most truly “Godly” prayers are those we voice on behalf of another person as well as those we voice simply to give thanks.
Even with $4.00 gas, declining housing values, the credit crisis, the war in Iraq, the “terrorism” threat, and global warming the fact is that more people in the world are enjoying higher standards of living than ever before and this nation needs to stop behaving as a bunch of spoiled brats and start counting our blessings. There are still >1,000,000,000 people on this planet that do not even have access to potable water-perhaps a few prayers (followed by ACTION on our part) for their plight are in order?
@danseuse322: I was going to say something like that. Just because they’re praying for this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not praying for the situation in Zimbabwe or Darfur. Christians are called to pray and act; one does not negate the other.
@battra92: You said it! All we need to do is raise awareness.
@Dawnrazor: Amen!
This is probably the final thing that I will say on here. It is time to move on. Anyways, as to why God doesn’t heal amputees, that’s a question that may be beyond my understanding of God’s plan. That said, again, just because God doesn’t do something, doesn’t mean that He is not able to. Also, why should God magically undo every bad thing that happens that is “bad”, simply because it is bad? If it were not for hardship, there would be no innovation. It is human nature. Then, of course, there is the plan that God has. Without knowing the alternate outcome to what happens to us, how can we be sure that we are actually worse off for a given occurence. Even death could be the answer to a prayer. Lots of things are worse than death. As to the story of the guy in the flood, I love that story. It is absolutley one of my favorites. I hate how selfish people get when they are like, oh no, poor me, God should just make this better. I want to be 50 pounds lighter. The gym is hard, praying is easy, and, of course, God must not love me or not exist or something if I’m not losing 10 pounds a day while living on fast food. As an aside, I have a severed median nerve that never healed compleetely after surgery. I have all of the capabilities that I need (knowing my purpose), although my options are very limited for what I am stil able to do.
@ras_d: Once we have a new technology that can do what oil does for us, sign me up. Until then, yes, lets find new oil deposits and exploit the crap outta them. What’s the alternative? I’ll tell you, keep using foreign oil, pay through the nose for it and still not find the new technology.
@Erwos: The “victim?” I didn’t realise that only Christians were being charged higher gas prices… I’d better make sure I mention I’m an atheist at the pump next time! When it comes to high gas prices, we are ALL the “victims,” even if we don’t drive, as high gas prices become reflected in the prices of shipped goods, including consumables. Unless one is completely self-sufficient (and more power to anyone who is), the pinch will be felt.
I don’t care what anyone chooses to believe, I really don’t… until it either encroaches upon my own rights to believe what I like by being forced upon me in some way OR is used by its believers as an excuse for acting self-righteous and superior. I have every right to think, however, that praying to Invisible Dad in the Sky for lower gas prices is a stupid waste of time when there are actual things these folks could be doing that will have a real impact for sure, not just if a capricious deity decides they should.
@Teapotfox: You basically just proved my point. Re-read what I wrote, and compare it to what you wrote.
This is intellectually insulting to anyone with a working brain, religious or not.
@Erwos: I don’t hate anyone, and even if I did, I do not represent the opinions of the internet. I reject the accusation that anyone who thinks this method of attempting to affect gas prices is stupid is “blaming” a “victim.” Let’s remove religion from the equation entirely–if a group of people got together in a park to start playing daily games of Ultimate Frisbee because they believed that would help lower gas prices, would it be okay to say that is stupid? It’s a bunch of people doing something to try to affect something else via a method that has never been proven to work… when there are dozens of other things they -could- be doing that -would- have a demonstrable positive effect.
As for the “victim,” again, I’m not blaming the people who are praying for the fact that gas prices are high, nor are they the “victims” in this case… again, we all are.
I knew the God haters and Christian haters would come out in droves to comment on this article.
Just because you or I wouldn’t do it doesn’t mean you have to be so hostile.
Does wanting to save money/be a responsible consumer equal atheistic jerk?
@thedreamingtree:
Boo hoo. You claim a “god” created everything yet its entire existence is threatened by the words of one person.
If your religion can’t withstand criticism, it wasn’t worth believing in to begin with. The strongest arguments welcome questioning, the weakest fear it.