Climate-Denying Oklahoma Governor Tells Residents To Pray For Rain

by Brad Johnson Posted on July 18, 2011 at 12:29 pm Updated: July 18, 2011 at 4:51 pm

In response to Oklahoma’s record drought and heat wave, Gov. Mary Fallin (R-OK) called for a statewide day of prayer on Sunday to pray for rain. For 47 straight days, temperatures in Oklahoma City have been above 90 degrees. Most of the state is in extreme to exceptional drought. There have been over 140 wildfires in the state. Outdoor burning is banned in most of the state under an executive order issued Thursday by Fallin. She also told her constituents that if enough pray, God will come to their rescue:

For the safety of our firefighters and our communities and the well-being of our crops and livestock, this state needs the current drought to come to an end. The power of prayer is a wonderful thing, and I would ask every Oklahoman to look to a greater power this weekend and ask for rain.

“I think if we have a lot of people praying, it moves the heart of God,” Fallin told CBS News. Fallin’s neighbor, Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), issued an “official proclamation drawing on his constitutional authority designating three days as Days of Prayer for Rain” back in April, after which the Texas drought has only gotten much worse.

In 2007, Fallin, then a U.S. congresswoman, laughed off greenhouse pollution, saying people “need to be more concerned about global warming in the U.S. caused by a nuclear attack.” Earlier this year, Fallin attacked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for attempting to enforce clean air and clean water laws on her state’s oil and gas industry.

In contrast, the Catholic Church wants people motivated by faith to take real action against climate disasters: “We call on all people and nations to recognize the serious and potentially irreversible impacts of global warming caused by the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.”

“The most important immediate step that can be taken at the federal level is to pass and implement national legislation requiring sufficient economy-wide reductions in carbon dioxide emissions through cost-effective, market-based mechanisms such as a cap-and-trade program,” say the leaders of the Evangelical Climate Initiative, including Oklahoma’s Ronald W. Carpenter, Sr, Bishop James D. Leggett, Dr. Doug Samples, Rev. Jewelle Stewart, Rev. Scott Freeman, and Rev. Dr. Craig Groeschel.

Oklahoma is the epicenter of the nation’s growing climate disasters, with the nation’s taxpayers paying most of the funds to recover from the extreme storms, fires, and drought.