God may not notice the thousands of prayers tweeted for victims of Oklahoma’s devastating tornado — but Ricky Gervais sure has. And he is not pleased.
As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 75,000 people have used the hashtag #PrayForOklahoma, including pop starlets, pastors and politicians, according to Topsy.com, a trend-monitoring site.
For example, the White House tweeted:
President Obama: “Our prayers are with the people of Oklahoma today.” #PrayForOklahoma
But the hashtag and the sentiments it promotes prompted a fierce backlash on social media, led by Gervais, a British comedian, and other prominent nonbelievers.
And while one Oklahoma City pastor says he appreciates the Twitter prayers, some religious scholars say devout petitions require more than moving your hands across a keyboard.
“A prayer is supposed to have a consequence for you,” said Elizabeth Drescher, a lecturer at Santa Clara College in California. “It’s not an act of magic.”
Gervais, an ardent foe of organized religion, was a bit more caustic.
In response to a tweet from MTV that pop stars Beyonce, Rihanna and Katy Perry sent their prayers to Oklahoma, he tweeted, “I feel like an idiot now … I only sent money.”
Gervais and other atheists also kick-started a counter-trend, using the hashtag #ActuallyDoSomethingForOklahoma.
“If all people are doing is praying, it is worthless,” Hemant Mehta, an Illinois math teacher who writes the blog “Friendly Atheist,” told CNN. “If they are praying and donating to the Red Cross, that’s more like it.”
Mehta is promoting a group called Foundation Beyond Belief that aims to provide a humanist response to crises like the Oklahoma tornado.
The prayer debate spilled into other social media sites as well, with commenters on CNN’s Facebook page sparring over God’s role in Monday’s destructive whirlwind. According to Oklahoma officials, 24 people have died, many more are injured, and once-orderly streets look likes foretastes of the apocalypse.
In response to a woman who said she was praying for the victims, commenter Peter Tongue replied, “If prayer works, there wouldn’t be a disaster like this in the first place …. so please keep your religion to yourself.”
But believers had their say as well.
“God is still in control!” said Wilbur Dugger, a commenter on CNN’s Facebook page. “Everything (God) does is to get our attention. … My sympathy and prayers go out to those who get caught up in his demonstrations of (God) ruling the world.”
The social-media sparring over prayer and God’s will reflect a culture in which traditional notions of religion – and the places where people talk about faith – are changing faster than a Twitter feed, said Drescher, the Santa Clara lecturer.
“We’re watching people re-articulate what it means to be spiritual and religious,” she said.
Just a few years ago, for example, no one knew what a hashtag was. Now the “#PrayFor…” meme appears after almost every national and international tragedy. But what exactly does it mean? Is the tweeting multitude really folding its hands in prayer, or is it a fleeting expression of existential angst? Or maybe just a trendy thing to say?
“It seems to express hope and anxiety, and maybe even helplessness,” Drescher said. “At that same time, it evokes this strong response from people who see it as a cop-out, a way of claiming some kind of spiritual space that doesn’t actually have any meaning to the person who’s posting the meme or the community they are addressing.”
Traditionally, prayer has required something of the pray-er: an orientation toward reverence, a readiness to act, Drescher continued. “You are meant to do something — and that something may not be an easy thing.”
Slapping a hashtag at the end of a tweet doesn’t meet that standard, the scholar said.
The Rev. David Johnson of St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City said the prayerful tweets mean something to him — even if he’s been too busy to read them.
Since Monday, St. Andrew’s has become a Red Cross command post and reunion site for families to find loved one’s caught in the tornado’s path. The tragedy has also touched the congregation itself, with homes, and some lives, lost on Tuesday, Johnson said.
“That’s awesome,” he said when told of the tweets. “People feel helpless — like God called them to do something but they don’t know what. That’s where prayer comes in.”
Johnson said his church appreciates the many material donations coming its way: the generator sent by a lady from Arkansas, the food and water sent from neighboring towns. But they also solicit, and are happy to receive, the many prayers recited — or tweeted — on their behalf, he said.
“We’ve seen quite a lot of trauma in the last day,” Johnson said. “Obviously, people are going to ask why God allows tornadoes to happen. That’s just part of this world. God doesn’t promise us that bad things won’t happen, he promises to help us through it. That’s what prayer helps us do.”
Daniel Burke | CNN
