The Prayer Warriors

The Pray at the Pump group believes that there’s a solution for all of the nation’s problems.  Put politics aside, let go of silly policy ideas, and focus on a more powerful avenue of fixing the world: prayer.  It works with any religion, as long as you’re praying.  “It doesn’t matter to us.  It can be Muslim or whatever,”  says Rocky Twyman, the group’s founder.  

In fact, the members of the group are mostly Seventh-Day Adventists, a Protestant-like denomination that celebrates Saturday as the Sabbath, and their philosophy draws heavily on the Christian bible. “If you go to the Bible it says ‘God is a jealous god,’ and He wants us to give Him credit.”  Not doing so has brought about the collapse of kings and kingdoms time and time again, says Twyman.

While prayer is important for all, the group has recently set its focus on one man, whose prayers are, perhaps, closer to God’s ears.  Twyman believes that President Barack Obama could get a great deal more done if he were to only engage in public prayer, both to ask for help and give thanks.  “After all, God is the one who made it possible for him to even become President,” Twyman sermonizes, explaining that God went to great lengths to position Obama for the Presidency, bringing about, among other things, well-timed economic turmoil.

Twyman’s beliefs motivate him and several of his co-religionists toward numerous acts of protest, each aimed at raising awareness of faith, prayer, and its importance to public policy outcomes.  Before the Glenn Beck Rally in Washington, they gathered outside the White House to demand that Obama bring Beck and Al Sharpton, who was manning a counter-rally, together in prayer.  On Labor Day weekend, he and his self-proclaimed “Prayer Warriors” gathered at an unemployment center near Union Station to pray, sing, circulate a petition, and, according to their press release, “pass out candies of hope to help soften the blow” of unemployment.  They hope Obama is paying attention and will find some humility in the face of the great creator.  ”HARVARD WISDOM IS FOLLY TO THE RULER OF THE UNIVERSE,” their petition reads.

Unemployment and Glenn Beck are not the only problems prayer can tackle.  It can work on anything from war to natural disaster. The BP oil spill could have been cleaned up much sooner with a little help from God, says Twyman.  ”Cuz he made the Earth!  He knows, man!  He knows what to do!”

But Twyman isn’t just acting on faith.  He’s had confirmation from his previous experiences that prayer works.  The Pray at the Pump movement started, as its name indicates, by conducting prayer vigils at gas stations in the summer of 2008, when the price of oil hit a record high.  “We prayed and God blessed our efforts and the prices started coming down whenever we prayed!”  

Never mind that the price of oil came tumbling down due to reduced demand, caused by the fast deterioration of the American economy.  As you’ll recall, that was part of the plan to get Obama into power in the first place.

God works in mysterious ways.

-Niv Elis

We Exist.

In the first week of tracking protests, one of my core assumptions has already been challenged.  Protests are intended to appeal to an audience.  The final audience, I assumed, was always policymakers, whether influencing them directly or through electoral channels (e.g. influencing public opinion through the media, which elected officials pay attention to).  A group of 8 protesters from the Institute for Gulf Affairs provided a worthwhile counterpoint.

Repeatedly chanting “Women are not property!  End Gender Apartheid!” over a handheld amplifier, the group hoped to catch the attention of Saudi King Abdullah, or in their parlance “The King of Apartheid,” as he visited President Obama at the White House.  It didn’t matter much that their group, consisting solely of the organization’s employees and some friends, was minuscule (due to an “administrative failure”).  Nor did it matter that the message of their chant (women’s rights) differed from that of the fliers (advocating the release of two political prisoners) and their policy recommendations (don’t be friendly with a dictator).  The protest served an important purpose no less, above and beyond the policy papers, press articles, and lobbying the group employs to advocate for human rights in the Gulf.  It demonstrated democratic freedom to the people of Saudi Arabia by example. 

 “The Audience is probably the Saudis more than the Obama Administration, because [Americans] see a lot of protests,” said the group’s director, Ali Al-Ahmed.  “The Saudi people are not used to people shouting in their face.  The ultimate audience is back home.” 

Of course, the media in Saudi Arabia is state controlled, so the group relies on bloggers (like me?  More likely the affiliated blogger who participated in the protest) and the internet to get its message through.  

The scarcity of information only puts a finer point on the issue.  One of the prime motivations for the Institute for Gulf Affairs to protest was simply to demonstrate that in places like America, we can protest!  The abundance of demonstrations in the United States has made them seem blasé to jaundiced, local eyes like my own.  Mere gestures, even.  But in a place where people cannot speak their minds and are punished for political dissent, glimpsing such freedom in action elsewhere must be both revelatory and inspiring.  It’s a powerful reminder, says Al-Ahmed, that “we exist!”

-Niv Elis