Did anyone else see this on Saturday?

[PCIntern]

I was flipping channels, flying past MSNBC, Faux, looking for a movie, any movie, and when I hit CNN, the Chyron read: PRAYING THE STORM AWAY.

So there's video of a tornado coming towards the camera and it changed direction and went another way. The anchor used language stating explicitly that the prayer had "worked" and that although the person's house was destroyed, they themselves were safe.

I was alone in the room and I swear to God that if I had been having problems in the past, I would have sworn that I was hallucinating.

[leftofcool]

1. Some people believe strongly in the power of prayer. If it works use it, if you think it works

use it and even if you are not sure it works, never hurts to use it.

[PCIntern]

8. I'm sorry...

See, I'm not too bright. I must have underemphasized the part of my post which stated that the anchor said that the prayer "worked" as opposed to him saying simply that things worked out for the individual.

I didn't say that prayer was bad or anything that was irreligious. The question is: is it responsible 'reporting' to say that the prayer worked?

[leftofcool]

12. Tough call.

If one understands that Kentucky is the buckle of the Bible belt and that local reporters here often appeal to the most Christian of people it may have been the right thing to say at the time or at least this reporter believed so. I saw many shook up and tearful reporters in the aftermath. Maybe responsible reporting goes out the window when you just don't know what else to say.

[piratefish08]

17. if i had been standing there, i may very well have pooped my pants.

it would have been just as responsible to say my pants pooping was somehow connected to a tornado taking a left turn.


on the other hand, let's assume the prayer WAS directly responsible for turning the tornado away from this house.

are they now responsible for any damage caused by the tornado after the direction-changing prayer? or is that all on God?

[bowens43]

11. yes it does hurt, it promotes ignorance

and takes time and energy away from actually trying to find a solution to whatever is occurring.

[malaise]

2. I actually caught a woman praying & chanting in tongues telling the tornado to stay away

from her house. I'm still trying to figure out if she recorded this or it was a CNN 'miracle' hoax. I could not believe what I was hearing.

[leftofcool]

3. I was chanting too but doing so from the basement.

[malaise]

5. LOL

Not like this woman

[leftofcool]

6. I have two chants/prayers in these situations

The first one is to the cellar/basement god............"thank you for being here and please don't let that very large tree fall across the door trapping me in here."

#2 is to the holy he/she............"I have a lot of "stuff" that I would love to keep, could you please protect it."

[malaise]

20. I'm glad you're still around

We're indifferent to most stuff other than our library full of books, papers and several lifetimes of family photos do matter.

We simply prepare as best we can after hurricane warnings and let nature do her thing.
Still the thought of a tornado is terrifying to me.

[DLC_equals_GOP]

4. I did not pray but did bong hits instead

and I did not get hit by a tornado.

Therefore I have proven that bong hits prevent tornados.

[NNN0LHI]

7. Welcome to DU again

Do you ever get tired of doing this?

Don

[Quantess]

9. Never mind.

Last edited Sun Mar 4, 2012, 09:49 AM - Edit history (1)

[bowens43]

10. so why didn't this god of theirs get rid of the storm before it the house?

there is nothing dumber then this kind of nonsense. Thank god I'm alive , he spared me but smashed the living hell out of everything else.

t

[malaise]

21. You're so right

It assumes that every who was hit deserved nothing more than destruction.

[Scuba]

13. For those who posit that "prayer works", I ask...

... how's that "praying for Peace" thing working for ya?

[PCIntern]

15. A story I like to tell:

I have an employee who is a Baptist and she is always talking about blessedness and God's will and all that...

she's a great lady and I like her a lot.

One day, I was telling a story about a guy who was stabbed with a penknife right between the eyes, the blade snapping off the handle and the neurosurgeon who removed it stated that in all his years of practice, with all his training and knowledge of anatomy, there was no way that he could have placed that knife so perfectly so as to miss all the vital structures including the pituitary gland, the optic chiasm, and portions of the brain, the way this assailant had. My staff member saidthat this person was blessed by God. I couln't help myself and I blurted out, "I guess if God had REALLY blessed him, he wouldn't have had someone stick a knife between his eyes in the first place, but what do I know?" I got the stink-eye for the rest of the day.

[trof]

14. CNN's "Thank God" syndrome.

I've heard Wolf and other CNN commentators use this phrase more and more lately.
"Thank God disaster was averted."
"Thank God he wasn't injured."

I never heard any of the old pros use that term.
Murrow, Cronkite, Reasoner, etc.
I think the feeling was that viewers had there own ideas about religion and a national news broadcast was not the place to attribute something that either did or didn't happen to the whims of 'God'.

Just my 2 cents.

[AngryOldDem]

16. So the storm just went on to destroy and kill elsewhere.

I guess the people it **did** hit just didn't pray hard enough.

This is why I have such a problem with people glorifying prayer in this way.

It was all coincidence. The storm was going to take whatever path it was going to take.

[HarveyDarkey]

18. No different than a plane crash.

Everyone killed but one baby, and all these people thanking god for the "miracle" of saving the baby.

[truth2power]

22. Correct. eom

[spanone]

19. cnn - christian news network