A while back I posted a comment on the blog here about some interesting research on confidence and it’s relationship to belief, be it the usual batch of superstitions all the way up to faith in a loving curator-of-the-universe. The gist of the research was basically that some people out there feel powerless, and these superstitions are a way for them to feel like they have some control over uncontrollable circumstances. This makes sense to me.

So now we have an uncontrollable circumstance. BP is accidentally spewing a gigantic quantity of oil into the water. Now, a smart company would say something along the lines of, “We’re merely opening up our product offering to a new and untapped market. The wildlife are being given our product totally free of charge, and they’re so happy that they’re literally swimming in it! If that’s not testimony to our Corporate Giving policy, I don’t know what is!” But they’re an even smarter company. They’re trying to fix it.

I work in oil and gas. This doesn’t make me an expert on capping wells. It doesn’t even make me an expert on oil. It just means that I have a bit of a layperson’s understanding of the engineering involved in these kinds of things. A well that is offshore has slightly more technology involved than perhaps the fine folks who brought us the Beverly Hillbillies would have you believe. And I also know that dealing with a problem of this nature is what we in the industry call a bitch.

I’m not justifying anything. I don’t know the ins and outs of what has been done, or whether or not BP’s efforts have been sensible and intelligent. It’s easy to assume not given the reactions of the media and the people, but I also know that both media and people can be ill-informed. Delving into the details on this one is way beyond the scope of what I want to talk about today.

The point is, there’s some bad happening. When bad happens, it’s best if we make it stop happening. But big, complicated bad can be real bad, because the stopping-it-from-happening often is big too, and takes some time. Fortunately, when faced with an uncontrollable circumstance, the people know how to step in.

I’ve heard about a variety of prayer emails going around, ranging from the local Louisiana Baptists to this rather awesome bit of new age fluff that PZ Myers posted today. The point is that the world over there are people who feel that since man hasn’t been able to fix this, it’s time for God to do it.

Now, the atheist jerk inside me can’t help but feel snide. “Really,” he might ask. “Let’s see how long it takes God to fix this! I know he’s busy, but Americans are his Chosen People, surely he won’t leave you literally floating in it!” But that’s the jerk me. There are lots of other aspects of my character that can step in.

The biggest part of me honestly thinks this is good news. While the faithful are blustering and praising and fearing their Creator, they won’t be starting public relations attacks against BP, and hopefully that means more BP resources devoted to fixing the problem over fixing their image. The worst thing that can happen in any catastrophe like this is having six kids standing around pointing at one another and insisting on their individual innocence. The time for blame and recrimination will have to come after, when the oil’s stopped and the birds have been towelled off and this whole mess is… well, like oil-soaked water off a Sandwich Tern’s back.

But it also interests me to see these people who actively believe that prayer is going to make a difference. They believe that God is kindly, all-powerful, and all-knowing, but somehow if they don’t en masse ask him to stop the problem he’s just not going to bother. It’s a classic example, at least as far as I can see, of people doing nothing more than trying to feel like they have some measure of control in the uncontrollable events of the world. If God wanted it stopped, he would have stopped it. If God needs you to cajole him and promise him that you’ll revere him if only he’ll stop it, then he’s a real jerk. As the quote says:

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
- Epicurus [341–270 B.C.]

 
Kind of sums it all up to me.

Jim