In the darkest hour of despair, when all hope seemed lost, the communal leader called together his counsel of the faithful and uttered ritual sayings. Sounds like something out of the eighth century, doesn't it? Just this past week, however, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, facing a massive and seemingly unrelenting drought, declared that "The only solution is rain, and the only place we get that from is from a higher power." He then sent out responses to leaders of several faiths to take part in a prayer service.

The potential establishment clause violations inherent in state sponsored prayer are disturbing. Whenever Government appears to endorse religion over nonreligion, we should be weary However, what is even more disturbing is the high level of fatalism and determinism involved in the very act of submission to a higher power.

It is important to emphasize the falsity of Perdue's statements. Indeed, there is much the state can do rather than merely wait for rain and pray. In terms of trying to induce rain, there is a procedure called cloud seeding, which involves injecting clouds with dry ice or silver iodide. While the efficaciousness of this procedure is scientifically uncertain, it is often practiced in dry regions in the United States.

There are several other steps the governor could have taken, should currently take or should take in the future. Early on, Perdue had an opportunity to restrict water flow to help preserve a limited supply; conservation must be emphasized in communities throughout Georgia-Perdue could perhaps use the same religious leaders he summoned for prayer to spread the message of conservation from the community pulpit. The city of Atlanta needs to begin developing new water reservoirs and fixing its abysmal water infrastructure. In the long run, better water emergency contingencies must be developed to facilitate water-sharing among Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

There are always solutions to human dilemmas, but they take ingenuity and a willingness not to assume the worst. If Franklin Delano Roosevelt had spent his time praying for salvation as Herbert Hoover had done instead of coming up with vital recovery programs such as the Tennessee Valley Authority and National Recovery, our nation would never have been able to recover from the Great Depression. Traditionally one of our nation's strongest assests has been its ability to bounce back from economic or social shocks with incredible resilience and ingenuity. When we look up to the sky in ineffective prayer, we lose sight of the actions we should really be taking.

Continued...

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