I’m still amazed at this one.
How about 40 days of officials and legislators and law enforcement people getting together to figure out better gun laws?
How about 40 days of raiding the homes and vehicles of known criminals and convicted felons and getting the drugs and guns and everything else they shouldn’t have?
How about 40 days of non-stop communication between whites and blacks in Peoria on how to better understand and get along with each other, instead of hating each other?
I could think of so many other things that could be done over 40 days that would be more effective than “40 days of prayer”. But that wouldn’t get me reelected, now, would it? 
December 14th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Have you read recent letters to the editor? Interesting; I am told that their deity always answers prayer (”yes”, “no”, and some permutation of “not now, later, I’ve got something better”). Well, one can obtain those results by praying to a jug of milk!
Prayer can be effective in the sense that it can calm and center the person doing the praying, but that is about it.
December 14th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
I have been reading them Ollie, and like you I just sit back and shake my head. And you’re 100% right on the money…I can get the same results from praying to an inanimate object (although I usually go for praying to my John Daly driver to finally send one STRAIGHT down the fairway for a change).
You have described what “prayer” is quite succinctly, sir. Well said.
December 14th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
BJ basical is saying that praying is a waste of time..
BJ is advocating search and seizure without due process.
BJ is suggesting we need more “gun laws” instead of simply enforcing the ones we have.
but then
BJ thinks it would be a good idea to get blacks and whites together to talk in Peoria. This one is actually not a bad idea. (Except the folks who would participate are probably not the people who NEED to participate).
Instead if just posting his good idea, though, he pollutes it with a liberal agenda.
Ollie, making fun of people who believe in God and praying to him is pretty juvenile.
Why be a hater?
December 14th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Hey Anon E. Mouse: I’ll respect your god when you respect mine.
Hey, let’s have a test, similar to that described in 1 Kings 18: verses 21-40.
We’ll see who is more effective.
December 14th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
PS: to find out about my god, go here.
December 14th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
Ollie, When did I disrespect your god?
Also, I don’t know my Bible very well, so I don’t know what 1 Kings 18 says. That doesn’t mean I am going to make fun of people that do.
Demeaning one religion does not make another one more (or less) legitimate. It just makes you a jerk.
December 15th, 2007 at 12:47 am
“How about 40 days of non-stop communication between whites and blacks in Peoria on how to better understand and get along with each other, instead of hating each other?”
Have you met the people who are involved in this effort? This IS a way for blacks and whites to get together and establish good will.
I say this as an admitted agnostic: The very worst that can come out of this is no harm at all. And I think it will help, if for no other reason than it’s a way for people to of good will get organized to improve things.
And I assure you that the police are out there making arrests, on a daily basis, of drug dealers and other criminals.
December 15th, 2007 at 6:09 am
How am I a jerk? Would I have said that “40 days of tarot card reading”, or “40 days of chanting by Buddhist monks” or “40 days of drumming to the sun and moon gods” or “40 days of voodoo” isn’t going to work, would you have reacted the same way?
Billy:
Yes, getting together to pray has some social value, and it isn’t as if these folks are out clubbing baby seals or embezzling money from their treasuries.
But I do find superstition of all types amusing.
By the way, I was expressing my opinion on BJ’s blog; I was directly talking to him.
(disclosure: technically, I actually belong to a church, but I only go when the bicycling/running/hiking weather is bad.
)
December 15th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
I already sez’d: “Demeaning one religion does not make another one more (or less) legitimate. It just makes you a jerk.”
Ollie sez: “How am I a jerk? Would I have said that “40 days of tarot card reading”, or “40 days of chanting by Buddhist monks” or “40 days of drumming to the sun and moon gods” or “40 days of voodoo” isn’t going to work, would you have reacted the same way?”
I now sez: *I* wouldn’t have offended them in the first place. I endeavor to display a little tolerance. As Bill said, what harm can it do?
There are plenty of other ideas that might be worth 40 days of specific, focused attention, too. I propose:
40 days of litter pickup - make a special effort during 6 weeks in the spring
40 days of porch sitting - kind of like “Night out Against Crime.” If everyone sat on their front porch for 30-60 minutes a night during 6 weeks in the summer, crime would probably go down (too many eyes) and neighbors would more likely to speak to each other.
40 days of volunteering - for watever charity you choose
40 days of school - get more adults INTO the school and much deeper into the ways the shcools work (and don’t work).
40 days of family - activities around the city geared for families being together, learning together, and learning to communicate better.
40 days of white/black communication - can you imaging bus loads of folks from the projects descending on school. churches, and parks on the far north side of Peoria? For that matter, what would happen if large numbers of white folks attended an open house and open discussion @ Harrison Homes?
40-days of prayer, 40 days of Buddhist chanting aren’t bad ideas, either.
December 15th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
[...] So what solution did our elected leaders come up with? 40 days of prayer. You read correctly. Not everyone is happy with this “solution”: […]I could think of so many other things that could be done over 40 days that would be more [...]
December 15th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Why is it whenever anyone has any idea on how to help with any of the many problems we have, the suggestion is dismissed because it cannot possibly, by itself, solve the problem? Folks, Peoria’s crime problem isn’t going to go away because someone comes along and gives us the The One Perfect Solution on a silver platter. It’s going to take a lot of hard work, a lot of new ideas, a lot of good old-fashioned ideas. Some of these ideas MIGHT not conform with out preconceived notions. At the very least, try to not sh*t all over someone else well-intentioned efforts. Some of the people involved with the prayer are the same people who are in the trenches mentoring at-rick youth, serving in law enforcement, neighborhood preservation, school improvement, local government etc. The 40 days of prayer might help — as part of an over all plan that involved better law enforcement, mentoring, stiffer sentences, etc. Beats doin’ nothin.
December 15th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
My point is “40 days of prayer” is essentially “doing nothing”.
December 16th, 2007 at 11:42 am
My point is complaining about 40 days of prayer is worse that doing nothing.
(Some people will complain about anything - they are called Democrats).
December 16th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Ok…Anon.
I’m not a dem or a repub. But one guy sticking to his views and posting it on his blog is exactly what a blog is for…if you dont like it…don’t read it.
Please for the love of GOD…go start drama elsewhere…especially at Christmas time.
And don’t bother replying to this…cause I have nothing more to say on the subject and refuse to bicker like you.
PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 16th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
If one guy didn’t want to create discussion on his views, he wouldn’t post it on a blog.
Nyah!
December 16th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
BJ, I’ll expand on your point: it is worse than doing nothing; it is spreading the lie that prayer has some sort of supernatural power.
Of course, IN THIS CASE (the Peoria one), Bill is right that these meetings might be getting people together, possibly to interact, talk, get to know each other, etc., and in that sense, it could be valuable.
I’d also like to point out that there are religious types who bust their buns to do good; I certainly admire that.
But I am not going to approve of public displays of superstition that could be construed as being done in my name (as a citizen of Peoria).
Now a completely different case was the Georgia governor going to courthouse to pray for rain; I had a good belly laugh over that one. At least they could have brought in some folks for a good old fashioned “rain dance”; that would have at least been more entertaining.
December 16th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Ollie, you must get a lot of yuks this time of year with everyone talking about that girl who got knocked up but was still a virgin.
December 17th, 2007 at 5:47 am
The interesting thing is that this story got started because the folks who wrote some of the Gospels were using the Septuigant (sp) Bible (the Greek translation of the Jewish Bible); the word in the Hebrew text is “young woman”, and it remains that in Jewish translations and in Bibles such as the New Revised Standard Version (though the NIV still uses “virgin”)
The official Roman Catholic position is that this was a “divinely inspired mistake!” Other mainstream Christian churches have different views and don’t place much importance in it.
So, yeah, I get a chuckle, though my Jewish friends tell me “oh relax, ALL Jewish boys think that their moms are virgins.”.