Jim Hightower

At Exxon headquarters in Houston, management refers to the executive suite as “The god pod.” But while the honchos of the world’s biggest and richest oil corporation might think of themselves as holy omnipotents, most Americans have more demonic thoughts about them – and they definitely consider today’s gas prices ungodly.

So I was not totally surprised to learn recently that a group of church folks have been holding a series of “pray-ins” at gas stations across the country. They gather in front of the pumps, clasp hands, and reverently beseech God to deliver us from these high prices. “God is the only one we can turn to at this point,” says pray-in organizer Rocky Twyman. “Our leaders don’t seem to be able to do anything about it,” he says. “ The prices keep soaring and soaring.”

A public interest group called Consumer Watchdog says it sympathizes with the prayerful. “Given the complete inertia and silence of this White House on a crisis that has people feeling just hopeless, prayer is probably as good as anything,” one member of the group says.

Actually, Twyman and other pray-in participants are not simply hoping for a miracle. They believe that God helps those who help themselves, so they’re calling for people to do more walking, biking, carpooling, and other actions to cut back on gasoline use. They also hope that praying at the pumps will finally cause politicians of all stripes to take notice of the public’s desperation, perhaps even prompting them to do something about the rip-off prices that are squeezing so many working families.

To learn about some concrete steps that Washington could be taking on both price gouging and oil dependency, contact Consumer Watchdog at 310-392-0522 ex. 305 or www.consumerwatchdog.org .