Dear Editor,
I think the article extolling the virtues of World Day of Prayer held to aid the women of Zimbabwe, [A world-wide prayer in Langley, March 4, Langley Advance Times], is wasted space for many reasons – so let’s balance this prayer-fest with a dose of reality.
For starters, prayers don’t work, never have.
If something prayed for seems to happen it is only down to pure, random chance, nothing more.
If prayers worked, humanity would have been prayed into extinction a long time ago.
While aiding the women of Zimbabwe is a noble endeavour, if these prayerful people actually want to offer assistance then they need to get off their butts and do something constructive like lobby the appropriate politicians or fund those groups withing that country trying to improve the lot of women there.
Benjamin Franklin said it best when he coined the phrase in his paper that the Lord helps those who help themselves. That was his way of mocking religion as, being an atheist, he knew that only by doing can anything be accomplished.
You want justice in this life, fight for it and stop wasting time praying that your sky-daddy will do it for you either in this life or the imaginary next one.
I will always mock the idea that any of the participating faiths in this prayer fest have much to be proud of when it comes to the treatment of women.
Scriptures written by ignorant, misogynist goat herders and influenced heavily by the teachings of Zoroastrianism – which the Hebrews encountered during the Babylonia captivity – have held woman back. Sorry, there goes me bringing up historical facts most pew warmers have never heard about.
It has been the scriptures in all three alleged holy books of The Torah, Bible (Old & New), and The Koran, which kept woman in bondage for thousands of years – where they were nothing more then legal chattel that could be bought and sold by husbands and fathers for the right price.
So, for any Christian faith to claim the moral high ground and offer prayers to help women in far away Zimbabwe ignores the history of the religion and certainly conveniently skips over what the holy books actually says about the lot of women. It strikes me laughable.
It is only because of humanists, atheists, and others who have pushed back against religious dogma that women in Western society today enjoy the freedoms that they have.
The pulpits fought against quaint little ideas like a woman’s right to vote, own property, or even keep their children in case of divorce.
Woman’s liberation did not come from scripture; the exact opposite is true.
Even today, the Catholic church is a leader in opposing the right of women to control their own bodies.
I hope I have balanced out that idea that prayers are going to do anything to help the women of Zimbabwe or anything else for that matter.
Mind you, the Bible does claim that through faith a mountain can be raised up and thrown into the sea.
Perhaps all these people attending these prayer sessions could start with maybe a grain of sand on a table and see if they can move it. And no kicking the table, believers, that would be cheating.
Robert T. Rock, Mission
PAST LETTER ON THE TOPIC: Religion not source of all good, letter writer counters
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