I Really Hope It Rains on the National Day of Prayer… April 7, 2011

I Really Hope It Rains on the National Day of Prayer…

By Guest Contributor
April 7, 2011

If you weren’t aware that the National Day of Prayer was only a month away, you will be after you see this horrific video:

So PRAY… or else God will make dark clouds appear in the sky. And you’ll have to stop playing your Wii.

Side note: I wonder if the same person (or group) made the infamous “Gathering Storm” ad in 2009…

(via Kate Shellnutt and Hugh Kramer)

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  • When I saw the Wii, I thought it was going to turn into an XBox commercial.

  • Yep – I’ll be practicing my ‘religious’ freedom, by not wasting my time praying.

    Funny how videos like this always moderate comments & turn off the ratings.

  • Alex

    I still can’t believe we have an official national day of prayer.

    It was clearly a response to those “godless commies” but it’s clearly unconstitutional.

    Also, how on earth do they think same-sex marriage will infringe on their rights?

  • Transplant

    Video not available. This happens often on your site Hemant. Technical glitch or something more sinister? 😉

  • Zac

    Video doesn’t work for me either but I found it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl7TBjRI9LE

  • Evan

    Teh Drama! Teh Special FX! I can’t wait for the end credits to roll. In the meantime I’ll settle for my eyes rolling.

    And to answer Alex above, same-sex marriage infringes on their right to feel morally superior to us gays who cannot have something they do.

  • Lauren

    The religious right needs to feel morally superiour to the gays, because I have 100% sureity their sex lives are dramatically inferior.

  • Brian

    Rain won’t matter. If doesn’t rain, that’s proof that god supports the day of prayer. If it does rain, it’s proof that the world is in danger and more people must be praying.

  • Ray

    The video is not available in this blog but the link took me to it. As mentioned before ratings are turned off and comments are moderated. The video has been up since March 28th and there are no comments. I commented but got the message that it had been submitted for moderation.

  • Dan

    The video is embed-disabled at the source; I’ve tried to embed it elsewhere, and no go.

  • zachofalltrades

    I kind of admire the brazen contradiction. The obvious message of that thing is that if you don’t pray, god will fuck you up. Then they have that little disclaimer in there: “This promo is not to coerce people into praying through fear”. If not fear, then it’s to coerce people into praying through what exactly?

    In the interest of fairness, I think they should have a National Cross Your Fingers Day as a completely equivalent gesture.

  • Staci

    This is disturbing, to say the least. We need to pray, or god will make the clouds do crazy things? Sigh.

  • Alice

    Pray! It is our only defense against the multi-colored swirly clouds of doom!

  • Rich Wilson

    So, if you have a drought, whatever you do, DON’T PRAY!

  • Steve

    Anybody else expect giant spaceships to blow up the Capitol Building?

  • TiltedHorizon

    An entire day of prayer. Maybe it will save us from the impending rapture:
    http://www.ebiblefellowship.com/

  • *winced all the way through both videos*

  • KeithLM

    So what’s the biblical justification for the National Day of Prayer? This video seems to imply that if people don’t pray on that day god is going to get angry, very angry, and you won’t like him when he’s angry.

  • Ooooh, time to break out the “Nothing Fails Like Prayer” posters!

  • Amy

    No no! The Triangle Freethought Society is holding a National Day of Reason on the capitol grounds in Raleigh (we reserved it before the Christian group did!) On that day. We are having Sean Faircloth, Roy Speckhardt, Todd Stiefel, and Cecil Bothwell as speakers. No rain!

  • Hey, 5/5/2011… that’s Cinco De Mayo. Margarita Day is being hijacked.

    I see the clouds clearing over San Francisco. Maybe that means God really is not against the gays. 😉

    Seriously, this video disturbed me on many levels.

    And as Ray said above, it’s interesting that there are no comments, even if they are being moderated. Even those who support the NDoP don’t get their comments shown? Seems they are going the distance to be neutral about this.

  • Steve

    Sickening!! Thankfully, I live in the enlightened(!) UK, and no way would this ever happen!!!! Religious freedom, hah!!! Basically they are saying it’s OK not to pray but woe betide you if you don’t!!!

    Anyway, we have local government elections on that day, we’ll see a real change!!!

  • OverlapingMagisteria

    What??? There were no temples, Qur’ans, or anything non-christian shown! Clearly they have forgotten that the National Day of Prayer is, and always has been, inclusive of all faiths!

  • Annie

    That marriage video might have adverse effects. I for one am mildly embarrassed that I’m straight after watching it. (Oh, and my 12 year old pointed out that Damon stole the GLT symbol of a rainbow at the end.)

  • Jon Peterson

    Videos like these make me creeped out by Christians.
    Scarier than clowns!

  • Lana

    I find it incredibly telling that these sorts of videos so often seem to have the comments and “like/dislike” ratings disabled. They really can’t handle debate, can they?

  • keystothekid

    Pretty sure they ganked that music from x ray dog. thieverrrrry!

  • Rickster

    They turned of the ability to embed the video. The must have found out that it had been put up on an “atheist site” and couldn’t have that.

    Since commenting and rating were turned off I just flagged it as inappropriate and chose “abusing vulnerable individuals” as the reason. I thought “Promotes hatred and violence” could be argued but was a stretch.

  • Roxane

    The weather is pretty decent here in New Mexico. We must have a lot of people grovelling on their knees.

  • Drew M.

    I flagged it as hateful and abusive.

  • Michelle

    I love a good thunderstorm, what the heck scares the Christian folk about them so much? Go inside kids, it will be o.k.
    To all of those commenting here – a sincere Thank You – for making me smile.

    P.S.

    Viva! Cinco de Mayo!

  • Daniel

    I was stationed in Texas in the late 90s and took great delight in a revival tent group that prayed for rain during a drought. Which some weeks later was followed by a deluge and flooding deaths.

    Without even taking the tent down, they switched to praying for the rain to stop.

  • PJB863

    I just found it really interesting that in the first video (National day of Prayer), they kept flashing images of the U.S. Capitol and San Francisco – perhaps a subliminal message of “San Francisco Values” coming to Washington?????

  • Drew M.

    “A rainbow coalition of people…”

    Bwahahahaha!!

  • god made everything and if you don’t pray to him, he will kill us all.

    Did I interpret this video correctly?

    Makes sense. After all, god did kill millions of “his” children in the flood because he wasn’t happy with their behavior and in the end, he made the lucky remaining family a pretty rainbow.

  • ACN

    No overly dramatic scene is complete without faux latin…

    Also, evidently god is a time lapse video of clouds.

    Pro. Found.

  • CanadianNihilist

    I’m a little offended that they’re trying to hijack Cinco De Mayo.
    Kicking the french out of a country needs to be celebrated!

  • Danny Wuvs Kittens

    YOU MUST MAKE SACRIFICES TO THE CLOUD GOD OR HE WILL PUNISH YOU!

  • Annie

    I left a comment on the National Organization for Marriage website well over an hour ago. It still isn’t posting. My comment was thoughtful, and not hateful, so I wonder why it isn’t coming up???

    On the site they give canned answers for their followers to use to frequently asked questions. The first one? “Are you a bigot?” That right there says something…

  • He set the mountains in place? How odd, I thought plate tectonics did that. This fellow who demands our prayers sure seems like a narcissistic prick… sending thunderstorms to ruin golf outings just because some gamer didn’t stop to sacrifice a lamb.

  • ckitching

    Clearly they have forgotten that the National Day of Prayer is, and always has been, inclusive of all faiths!

    Oh, it is inclusive. They include Baptists and Methodists and Lutherans and even some Anglicans! They might even be inclusive of a few Catholics, as long as they don’t talk about saints too much.

    How much more inclusive can you get???

  • Michael

    If only they had scheduled it one day later, I could celebrate National Prayer day by going to the first showing of Thor. Oh well, I’ll just have to drink Dos Equis.

  • Amy said: “No no! The Triangle Freethought Society is holding a National Day of Reason on the capitol grounds in Raleigh (we reserved it before the Christian group did!) On that day. We are having Sean Faircloth, Roy Speckhardt, Todd Stiefel, and Cecil Bothwell as speakers. No rain!”

    Amy, that’s awesome! It sounds like it’ll be a really enjoyable day. I’d love to do this in Texas. We’ve had several pickets of the NDOP event there in the past, but what we really need is something larger and more positive. NDOR!

    NDOP billboards have been spotted in Austin for more than 6 months now, way ahead of time. They can’t stand to not be spending money on their religion.

    So who in Texas will join me in not only protesting the NDOP, but promoting and celebrating the National Day of Reason? As usual, there will be 2 events in Austin for NDOP, the big one at the state capitol building, and the usual prayer breakfast earlier that morning, at a hotel in north Austin. At the prayer breakfast, Texas Governor Rick Perry always proudly creates a proclamation, and spills his governorship out onto the glory of his government religious friends.

    I want to be there, with sign in hand, to tell folks what’s wrong with government religion, especially if the governor is going to be so eager to lay off public school teachers, with such a big Christian grin, and Republican celebration to go along with it. I think we should introduce some reason into the air, at these locations, during NDOP. They need to hear about the value of reason.

  • Amy

    Oh, last year we were the goons in the corner of the capitol grounds holding up our signs about separation of church and state. We had the idea of applying for the capitol grounds in the hopes of preempting the NDOP people, and it worked! We’re even set up for 2012 also.

    I’d love to see every state working towards overriding this NDOP nonsense.

  • Dan W

    The dark, ominous clouds made me think of the movie Independence Day. Oh no, we must hold a national day of prayer or God will make scary dark clouds and… something else that’s scary! How dumb.

    This is just more unconstitutional bullshit Congress enacted in the 1950s, when they were afraid of ‘dem godless commies.’ It needs to be done away with, along with “In God We Trust” on our money and “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

  • Defiantnonbeliever

    Is this an opportunity for direct action of a disruptive nature, I’m wondering? What would be the venues and circumstances of clear constitutional violation be that might be vulnerable to free speech?

    I’m not volunteering by the way, certainly not without backing a secure income and a guard dog at home where I live in the bible belt, just wondering.

  • thanks for the live link, Zac! um…wow. that was like, a movie preview or something. is jeebus going to burst thru the clouds on prayday? what are all those american white people doing in a madrassa? oh, they’re baptists? nevermind. the music was awesome. are white folks playing that music in church these days? big improvement over “closer to thee my laird.” i give it a 6 and would see it on netflix.

  • What if you didn’t pray? Come on Christians, think about it. What would happen? Nothing different. Test it for yourself.

    On the other hand this is clearly a call for prayer to the one true god of thunder, Thor. Now there is a deity that you don’t want to mess with. He’s got a hammer and he knows how to use it. It isn’t just for bashing in nails.

  • Everyone SHOULD stop praying and living in fear of a non-existent being. Then, at least, when these horrifying prophecies come true (you know, scary clouds and lightning) (which they won’t) they’ll have proof God does exist. In the meantime, stop living in fear!
    Awesomely epic music, though.

  • Nerdiah

    Your post and KeithLM’s comment inspired me to make a parody video. I hope it makes you smile – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP8qUXxziPI

  • ACN

    Nerdiah, that was a thing of beauty 🙂

  • Nerdiah

    🙂 Thanks ACN, I’m glad you liked it.

  • LOL@Nerdiah. Make God a sandwich to avoid His wrath? What kind? I can see a hundred different sects springing up with different answers:
    The Baloney-on-Wheatites
    The Ham-and-cheese-ish
    The Peanutbutter-and-Jellyites
    Personally, I’d go with the Ham and cheese-ish because, as everyone knows, Cheese-ish saves!

  • Jeebus

    Oh the FAIL of that video! I should have watched it before I ate lunch. Now I feel like throwing it all up…on to a BuyBull.

  • Riccardo

    “This promo is not to coerce people into praying through fear or any other emotion, only to say that in the midst of turmoil, devastaion and heartache, God offers hope and a future.” On tvtropes.org they call this a “Suspiciously specific denial” XD

  • Danny

    I can only say one thing to these people making these stupid comments and Larry the Cable guy says it best “You just can’t fix stupid”
    One day and it dosen’t matter whether you believe it or not, Every knee shall bow and every person will profess Jesus as Lord!

  • Steve

    Does anyone know that piece of music? Is it one of the common trailer music groups like Two Steps From Hell, Immediate Music or Future World Music? Kind of sounds like it

  • Carlie

    They include Baptists and Methodists and Lutherans and even some Anglicans! They might even be inclusive of a few Catholics, as long as they don’t talk about saints too much.

    The funny thing is that the music sounded like they were singing “Ave Maria” over and over.