Georgias Governor Prays for Rain on Capitol Steps

[Shlomo Yehudim]

I will let you read the article then I will leave my comment afterwards:
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ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- As Georgia descends deeper into drought, Gov. Sonny Perdue has ordered water restrictions, launched a legal battle and asked President Bush for help. On Tuesday, the governor called on a higher power.


Gov. Sonny Perdue has several times mentioned the need for prayer as the crisis has worsened.

He joined lawmakers and ministers on the steps of the state Capitol to pray for rain.

While public prayer vigils might raise eyebrows in other parts of the nation, they are mostly shrugged off in the Bible Belt, where turning to the heavens for help is common and sometimes even politically expedient.

"Christianity has more of a place in the culture here than in some other region," said Ray Van Neste, a professor of Christian studies at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. "And it's only natural, in a way, for the public to pray for rain."

Perdue isn't the first governor to hold a call for public prayer during the epic drought gripping the Southeast. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley issued a proclamation declaring a week in July as "Days of Prayer for Rain" to "humbly ask for His blessings and to hold us steady in times of difficulty." Video Watch Perdue cite biblical references to God providing rain »

The loudest opposition to Perdue's move came from the Atlanta Freethought Society, a secular group that planned to protest at the vigil.

"The governor can pray when he wants to," said Ed Buckner, who was organizing the protest. "What he can't do is lead prayers in the name of the people of Georgia."

Political heavyweights outside the U.S. are known to occasionally plead to the heavens for rain. In May, Australian Prime Minister John Howard asked churchgoers to pray for rain in hopes of snapping a drought that has devastated crops and bankrupted farmers Down Under.

In the U.S., public expressions of faith are often discouraged as a breach of the separation of church and state.

Thomas Jefferson, for one, resisted calls for a federal day of prayer. But he was an exception. From George Washington, who declared "a day of prayer and thanksgiving," to Harry Truman, who established a National Day of Prayer, American politicians have not been shy about associating themselves with petitions to the Almighty.

With rivers and reservoirs dropping to dangerously low levels across the region, a prayer rally at a high school football stadium in the Georgia town of Watkinsville drew more than 100 worshippers last week, and a gospel concert dedicated to rain attracted hundreds more two weeks ago at an Atlanta church.
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"We need to try a different approach," said Rocky Twyman, who organized the concert. "We need to call on God, because what we're doing isn't working. We think that instead of all this fussing and fighting, Gov. Perdue and all these others would come together and pray."

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

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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I dont know about you guys, but is this really the right thing for the Governor to do? And secondly, why have only ministers? Is Christianity the only religion recognized in this country? What are some of your thoughts?

[XemaSab]

1. Ignorant question, but do Jews usually pray for things?

:shrug:

(Sorry for the super ignert question, but a lot of the more obnoxious Christians view God as Santa Claus, while the Muslims (I think) generally couch things with "if Allah wills it.")

(And on edit: why are we here if not to learn?)

[Shlomo Yehudim]

10. Not a stupid Question

We do pray for things lol

My Rabbi teaches that in addition to prayer we must actually put action to it.
I know that a lot of my christian friends pray and leave it at that. Not the way prayer works.

[XemaSab]

39. Thanks for the response!

:hi:

[aquart]

11. There are no "usual" Jews.

Me, I pray. My mother curses and blesses.

But then, I also pray at the shrines of Saint Teresa of the Roses and Mother Seton in St. Patrick's, occasionally upon request. My sister has asked me to go there this week specifically for our cousin Cyril and we've agreed, since he's in his 80s, that I won't ask for a cure, just dignity, peace, and no pain for as long as possible.

So do try not to pigeonhole.

[DemBones DemBones]

13. Christians are supposed to pray "Thy will be done" but

that doesn't mean we can't ask God for something, as long as we understand He's in charge and it may not be His will to send rain.

Georgia badly needs rain and I hope God grants all the prayers being offered for rain.

[murray hill farm]

2. Prayer may well be a very good thing,

but I think I heard somewhere that "god helps those that help themselves"...as in taking some action to actually deal with this earthly problem.

[peace13]

6. Don't remind him.

Next plan of action...looking for someone else's water to steal! Peace, Kim

[DemBones DemBones]

20. Uh, Florida and Alabama are getting hundreds of thousands of gallons of

water from Georgia lakes, and the Corps of Engineers keeps on pumping it even though Lake Lanier is almost dry and Atlanta is going to run out of water in 30 days or so.

You'd better pray for Georgia to get rain or all those Republicans may move to your state!

[peace13]

24. Really it is time to educate people about water conservation.

Wasting water to warm showers, wasting water in showers period and washing clothes in machines that gobble water add to the problem. But here in America we don't want to be inconvenienced. I live in Ohio and am surrounded by Republicans already. I feel the pain of it every day. Peace, Kim

[Joe the Revelator]

30. Pretty easy for you to sit in your high horse near the Ohio river....

but there would be plenty of water in Georgia if Alabama and Florida planned better.

[DemBones DemBones]

32. It's time to save some of Georgia's water for Georgia, obviously.

And start fining people like the ones with a huge mansion in Cobb County (GOP stronghold) who are using 40,000 gallons of water a DAY, 60% more than their neighbors. (Edit: That must have been a MONTH. At least I hope it was!) I don't know what they're doing with all that water but the aerial photo shows their pool isn't covered, though I doubt they're still swimming in it in Novem -- oh, wait, they're heating it, and not even bothering with a solar cover, I'll bet.

[Joe the Revelator]

34. Its in the 70's here

they could still be using it. Just saying.

[DemBones DemBones]

37. Yes, but the nights have been cold enough that

I don't think they could be using it without heating it, and if they're heating it or not, why aren't they using a solar cover? Obviously, my dear, they don't give a damn.

They're probably using a lot of their water usage to refill the pool.

[beachmom]

55. No, Carlos used 440,000 gallons in October alone!

Obviously, his workers were still watering the lawn, and now that he has been caught, he will be cutting back on water usage:

The latest here:

http://www.atlantawatershortage.com/20071114/chris-george-carlos-to-cut-his-water-usage/#comments

[peace13]

41. I find your comment very rude.

In addition in Central Ohio we do not get our water from the Ohio River. I do know that people from the southwest have been eying the Great Lakes as a solution to their water problem. I am opposed to that as I would have been your state selling your natural resources to another entity. It always comes down to money. Once again I will say, education and conservation are the answer to an overpopulated world. Suite yourself if you want to continue down your path. How's that working for you? Initially I wasn't even saying it was your problem but now I don't know. Peace, Kim

[Joe the Revelator]

42. And I found your comment rude and unqualified.

Peace,J

[riqster]

51. Central Ohio relies on groundwater (wells) and two smaller rivers

...most of the state follows the same pattern. Diversity in sourcing makes it a lot easier to manage.

BTW, Lake Erie is waaaaaaaay down, and almost nobody uses it for drinking water.

[beachmom]

54. You are oversimplifying that situation. Folks in Athens are running dry, too,

and are not using Lake Lanier. Rivers tend to flow downwards. Are you really always going to blame others downstream? I certainly would support temporarily stopping some of the flow to FL and AL, but that is not the MAIN REASON Atlanta is running dry. The #1 reason is lack of rain (duh) exacerbated in my view by global climate change (making the serverity of the drought worse) and La Nena. The #2 reason is poor planning for wide scale development. You can't deny how exponentially Atlanta has grown without putting in the necessary infrastructure to sustain that growth. The #3 reason is the lack of dealing with the drought when it would have been easier to do so. From all accounts this drought is at least 18 months old, and yet a full outdoor watering ban did not occur until very recently -- how much water could have been saved if that ban had been put in place 6 or more months ago?

Don't fall for the Blame Game.

[DemBones DemBones]

35. Educating people isn't enough. People have to be fined

for excess water consumption. See my post just below about the household using 40,000 gallons a day. Wait, that must have been a month. Or I hope it was.

[beachmom]

53. There are ways to conserve that don't involve giving up modern conveniences.

First, front load wash machines are not only energy efficient, but water efficient. It is also important to never do partial washes or use extra rince cycles.

Second, showers use a lot less water than baths. Better yet, take only a 5 min. shower. Still better, take a Navy shower (turning off water while soaping up).

Third, gray water is a great way to reuse water. You spoke of wasting water in the shower, et al. Well, the trick is to put a bucket under water when you are warming it up (also in the kitchen, too). Then you can reuse that water to flush toilets.

Finally, I think you are being unrealistic to expect Americans to give up what has been modern conveniences since at least the '50s. Had Atlantans been doing every trick in the book since a year ago, it wouldn't be in as dire straits as it is in now.

[nealmhughes]

46. The interstate water courses of the SE are a bit more complicated than that.

The Lake Lanier of reference, is a manmade lake. A reservoir. It is an empoundment of the Chattahoochie River, which rises in North Georgia and then forms the Alabama-Georgia border before emptying in Appalachicola Bay in Florida. In other words, were it not for a dam, there would be no Lake Lanier.
The water would flow unimpeded along the GA-AL border, then thru Alabama and empty in Florida.
There are minimum flowrates set by the feds to keep aquatic life alive in the river and the Bay. Right now, the low flow is causing the Bay's salinity to rise, endangering the App. Bay oysters.
The people of Virginia cannot call dibs on the downstream waters of the Tennessee River in Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky and then the entire Ohio-Mississippi complex due to some waters rising in Virginia that feed the complex. It is cognate to Minnesota empounding above the headwaters of the Mississippi and then due to drought allowing the entire Mississippi Complex only to be fed by the Ohio-Tennessee and Missouri waters. I think folks in Iowa, Illinois, and Kentucky might get ticked off on that.
There has been a water battle between Ga. vs. Alabama and Florida in federal courts since the 18880s. The sudden rise of Atlanta's population is just a symptom of an ongoing problem that the East is unused to, but common in the West. The problem, per se, is the fact that Atlanta relies upon Lanier almost exclusively, and there is no closeby other source that is feasible since water flows downhill and Atlanta is over the Appalachians, were it not, then the waters from the Appalachians could be diverted without pumps. The water wants to flow south then east to the Mississippi in the Southern Appalachians - well, generally, speaking. The Monongahela and Alleghany rise in the PA mountains then flow thru Pittsburgh to the Ohio going basically south, then turn east to the Miss. The same for the Tennessee and Cumberland, which go south, then east then north to the Ohio then immediately to the Miss.. Take our drought for its second year now, and voila, water war.

[beachmom]

49. As has been done for a very long time. That is not the reason for

the drought or Atlanta's water shortage. Supposedly they are going to reduce the flow to FL and AL by 16%, but apparently the water is not just for endangered species -- it is also used at a nuclear plant (I assume we want that not to explode) for which the electricity is used by Georgians.

I consider that Blame Florida and Alabama tactic another version of The Blame Game that we saw post-Katrina. The funny part of it is that is a bunch of Republicans fighting amongst themselves. At first it seemed like an attack on the "liberal" Army Corps of Engineers protecting Mussels (LOL), but when the GOP governors from both states balked, the waters got muddied (no pun intended).

For those who want to follow the drought in Atlanta, I recommend this fairly non-partisan site (but the guy is very biased toward conserving water and not running out of water):

http://www.atlantawatershortage.com/

A must read, in my view.

[murray hill farm]

26. or for a first step....

no more watering on golf courses, no more car washes, no more swimming pool fill ups or water parks, restrict business usage, etc. Restrict water hours for everyone beginning now. Then really take some action that will allow that no more water be allowed to be taken from Atlanta's lake lanier to be fed down the chattahoochee to Alabama and Florida...until the emergency passes. They have waited way too long...hoping prayer or keeping head in sand, will solve the problem.

[Joe the Revelator]

31. All of this was done months ago...it doesn't help if there is no rain in that time period.

nt

[riqster]

50. I only play golf on two courses

..both only water the greens, and those sparingly. In SE Ohio, that is risky because of irregular precipitation and temperature fluctuations, but both courses are family-owned businesses that try to minimize their environmental impact in many ways.

Yeah, sometimes you can't find your ball in the dandelions, and you can get some amazingly logng rolls on that hard-baked fairway, but that just adds to the challenge. And I feel good about giving these folks my money.

[onehandle]

3. Like the plagues of Egypt, we got Sonny Perdue. nt

[peace13]

4. Well I hope they prayed to the rain god

otherwise it was a wasted effort! :)

[kestrel91316]

5. Are we to assume that, if the prayers DON'T result in any rain,

the good people of Georgia are being punished because they have failed to stone the gays and adulterers in their midst??????

[atreides1]

7. My Thoughts

Why is it everytime that man screws the pooch, he always looks to God to pull his ass out of the hole he dug himself?

The last I heard John Howard's prayer plan didn't cause the heavens to open, and fill the rivers and lakes with needed water.

It seems kind of handy that according to the forecast it's suppose to rain this weekend in the Atlanta area, if it does who wants to bet that Perdue will point to the heavens, and pronounce that prayer does work?

By the way did anyone tell these people that God always answers prayers, he just doesn't say yes all the time!!!!

[question everything]

8. What is scary is if it does rain in GA

and everyone will interpret this as a sign from god that she heard the prayers.

Urggg...

[DemoTex]

29. ATL: 20% tonight, 20% tomorrow, and 50% chance Wednesday night.

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Atlanta&state=GA&site=FFC&textField1=33.7629&textField2=-84.4226

[The Icon Painter]

45. Timing is Everything

These people only seem to publicly pray for rain when rain is somewhere in the forecast.

I'm an Atlantan and we really, really do need rain. It would help if we could keep Lanier's waters for our urgent uses.

[sampsonblk]

9. Nothing wrong with praying for rain

Prayer is a good thing. And its free. I advocate it in all cases!

[Shlomo Yehudim]

12. Seperation of Church and State

The Governor has every right to pray, but on the steps of the Capitol Building?
There is a separation of Church and State for a reason (I too advocate the use of prayer :P)

[DemBones DemBones]

17. There's no such thing. There IS a prohibition against the establishment

of a state religion. If Sonny starts telling Georgians we have to become Baptists, then we'll have a problem.

[sampsonblk]

19. He has a right to pray where he wants to - once in a while

If he wants to have a weekly prayer meeting, then I have a problem with it too.

[Vickers]

14. Why do the Capitol steps need rain?

He should be thinking about Lake Lanier.

[depakid]

15. Look, it's Georgia

The state is as chock full of fundies as anywhere on the face of the planet. If you want to see how people think in that neck of the woods (both pro & con) have a read of the comments following one of the Atlanta Constitution Journal articles on the issue.

Bizarre.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/stories/2007/11/07/droughtpray_1108.html

[Vickers]

18. I dunno...I think some of them comments are from DUers...

"Perdue praying for rain will have as much effect as me swinging a dead chicken over my head."

:rofl:

[depakid]

22. There are some pretty goods ones, eh?

"Praying for rain?!?! How about praying for a new Governor!"

[DemBones DemBones]

16. Do you know whether he invited any nonChristian clergy?

Maybe he did and they didn't want to participate. Maybe he didn't. It would be helpful to know.

Georgia needs rain and everybody should pray for it. If we don't get rain, all those ultraconservative Republicans in the Atlanta area (Cobb County, etc.) might move to your state!

[Shlomo Yehudim]

21. Unaware of the specifics on that

However I am watching CNN and they had an Atlanta Rabbi, who will be holding prayers for rain at his synagogue and he mentioned Muslims and Hindus who were out in front of the capitol with Jews and Christians praying for rain. While I didnt see a Rabbi or Imam on the Capitol Steps there were Muslims, Jews and Hindus in the crowd amongst the Christians.

[RethugAssKicker]

23. The forecast is for a 50% chance of rain.... So if it

rains that red-neck bastard better not take any credit for it!!

[Greenwood]

25. Woa!! I am a redneck!!

My friends say I am the strangest redneck they have ever seen, though!

[trashcanistanista]

27. Thanks, Sonny!

It rained like crazy here in No. Calif last week! I guess god prefers to water California.

[Joe the Revelator]

28. As both a transplanted Georgian and a strong supporter of keeping church/state seperate

I take no exception to this. The water situation is pretty dire down here. Prayer can't hurt in times of crisis like this.

[GreenArrow]

33. It can't hurt

.

[Lucinda]

36. Well if they did it today, it may have been successful. I'm not far from the GA border

and it rained here all day long. :)

[Arkana]

38. The only thing that could have made this more futile

was if Sonny Perdue was struck by a rogue bolt of lightning at the podium.

[ecstatic]

40. I wish his fat $@% would have come up with a real plan years ago

So we wouldn't be in this dire situation now. I hate him.

As far as the prayer goes, that's fine. But Purdue REALLY dropped the ball on this situation... We've had shortages for years and it's only now that he is trying to take on property owners, Florida, and the US Army Corps of Engineers.

[LiberalFighter]

43. How much rain will Georgia need to alleviate the problem?

He should pray for all the Republicans to move to Texas.

[beachmom]

56. One inch of rain buys Atlanta one more week of water. I don't know

how long it will take, however, to fill Lake Lanier back up.

[hatrack]

44. How about praying for changes in zoning laws, development & water fees?

Maybe a little divine inspiration might encourage Georgia to develop an emergency water plan? I understand that this plan is something the state government has never had - until now, that is. And, gosh, they sure are working hard on it now, aren't they?

Pandering, pathetic bullshit as a substitute for governing - but then, that's what Republicans do, isn't it?

[LiberalFighter]

57. Meters with on water usage limits

Only allow public swimming pools. Ban the use of private swimming pools.

Ban shopping mall water shows.

[Arugula Latte]

47. I hope your Invisible and Nonexistent Friend comes through for you, Governor.

[beachmom]

48. This moderate in Georgia speaks for me:

http://www.radicalgeorgiamoderate.org/2007/11/13/so-mad-at-these-morons-i-could-spit#comments

So mad at these morons I could spit

by Rusty

Whose dereliction of duty is greater here? Our yucking rube of a governor who has the power to call for emergency funding for new water reservoirs and chooses instead to hold a prayer meeting? Or the supposed newspaper of record in this decrepit burg that gives him a pass for this profound display of ignorance?

Read the whole thing! Includes info of what was ALREADY predicted by weather forecasters.

[themaguffin]

52. As an Atlantan, when I saw this, my head almost exploded

Praying is fine, but our highest elected state official needs to lead on conservation and long term planning. So what if it rains tonight? Metro atlanta is exploding in population. The metro had 1.7 million in 1970 and is over 5 million now. The 5 day forcast ain't gonna cut it.