Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin has officially proclaimed October 13 Oilfield Prayer Day, in a show of support for her state’s beleaguered fossil industry.
“This is not us trying to be The Onion,” writes EcoWatch correspondent Lorraine Chow.
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“Oklahoma is blessed with an abundance of oil and natural gas, allowing the state to be a prosperous producer of these valuable resources,” and “Christians acknowledge such natural resources are created by God,” Fallin’s declaration states. And “Oklahoma recognizes the incredible economic, community, and faith-based impacts demonstrated across the state by oil and natural gas companies.”
So on October 13, “Christians are invited to thank God for the blessings created by the oil and natural gas industry and to seek His wisdom and ask for protection.”
“We’re asking churches all over Oklahoma to open their doors, put on a pot of coffee and pray for the oil field, and not only for the oil field but the state, because the economy of our state is so connected to the oil field,” said Tom Beddow, coordinator of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma’s Oil Patch Chaplains ministry.
“The faith community is experiencing the same economic disaster, and it seems to have the same need, the recovery from financial loss,” he added.
