Pray for Texas

Texas is on fire.  Wildfires have spread across the state and currently cover a million acres.  And what is the solution that has been proposed by the Texas state legislature and signed into law by their governor?  Prayer.

Yes, the government of the State of Texas signed a law asking the people of the state to pray for rain. You can find some of the text referenced here. 

I wrote about prayer previously in reference to the disaster in Japan.  This current action in Texas serves to confirm the point I was making in that post.  People really think that praying for something will have an effect.  The legislature didn't ask them to pray for inspiration on how to find a solution to the problem or for strength in dealing with it.  Such a request would indicate a realization that prayer is simply a technique for self-reflection and thought.  Instead, they are clearly asking for their god to intervene.  Which again raises the questions - why hasn't their god intervened already, and why do they think they can influence the actions of a god?  When will people realize the inherent problems with this theology?

Another problem I have with this action is the clear violation of the separation of church and state.  The government should never, ever, ever, get involved in telling people how to practice a religious activity.  More importantly (to me), the government should not be encouraging people to practice ANY religious activity.  The state of Texas was very careful in the wording of their call to prayer to be inclusive of all religions.  They clearly saw that they would be inviting (justifiable) lawsuits if they mentioned God (or Thor or Vishnu or any other specific god).  However, they still show a direct endorsement of religion in general.  By endorsing religion, they push out those who have no religious beliefs.  There are many people who feel that supernatural beliefs in gods and devils are all a bunch of irrational, magical thinking that have no place in a grown-up view of the natural world.  When the government endorses religion, it makes non-religious people into second class citizens.  It's no different than if the government passed a law asking for three days in support of "white American culture".  That would clearly be racist, a violation of civil rights, and immoral.  Why can the government get away with acting the same way towards atheists and other non-believers?

The third problem I have with this action in Texas is that it promotes magical thinking that is completely removed from reality.  It treats the wildfires as if they somehow magically appeared and only an appeal to a magical old man in the sky can solve the problem.  The reality is that the fires are caused by a severe drought in Texas.  One (very likely) cause of that drought is global climate change that is occurring because we are burning too much oil and other fossil fuels and are pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  While a lot of people oversimplify the concept of human-caused global climate change as "global warming", the reality is that we are causing changes to the climate that are displayed in many ways.  One is that areas that once had plentiful rain will now suffer droughts.  This is likely what is happening in Texas.  Of course, the (Republican) government of Texas isn't going to admit this is a possible cause - not when a significant part of the state economy is based on oil production and refinement.  It's very likely that the oil industry paid significant amounts of money to help get the governor and legislators elected.  Do you think those elected officials are going to turn around and point out that the oil industry is partly to blame for these wildfires?  Of course not.  It's much easier to ask people to shut up for three days and pray to their magical grandfather to smile upon them and solve their problems.