With Coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths surging across the state thanks, in part, to his own incompetence, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt is once again turning to a tried, true and highly-ineffective way of battling a global pandemic – prayer.
Last night, we learned via the Ogle Mole Network that Governor Stitt hosted a Zoom meeting with members of the Oklahoma clergy.
In the meeting, he reviewed carefully crafted, PR-polished, talking points, listened to Evangelical church leaders praise his leadership, ignored questions about mask mandates, and announced he'll be calling for a day of prayer and fasting on December 3rd.
Here's a breakdown of the meeting that Diana Davies – a minister for the First Unitarian Church in Oklahoma City – shared on Facebook. She got a last-minute invite to the Evangelical-focused call thanks to the Oklahoma Conference of Churches.
Yeah, there's a lot of unsurprising stuff to unpack there.
First of all, the meeting sounds like it was similar to the pandemic prayer party that Stitt threw back in March. Basically, he ignored the public health risks of conducting large, indoor church rallies during a pandemic, and went with more of an ignorance-is-bliss, praise Jesus, "everything will be fine" mantra. I know that feels good and everything, but it's probably not the best way to address a real-life public health crisis.
You also have to love that Stitt's calling for a day of prayer and fasting on December 3rd. I appreciate his high hopes and ambitions for the Oklahoma people, but expecting us to go a day without food for a day is pushing it too far. The last thing Stitt would want is for us to lose is our Top 10 ranking in obesity!
That being said, you do have to appreciate the irony and hypocrisy at play. Throughout the pandemic, Stitt's seemed more concerned about the restaurant industry than anything else – even encouraging people to risk their lives to support trendy food courts – but, he's totally okay with people not eating at restaurants for an entire day just to appease his all-mighty and powerful God. Considering the same God apparently created the pandemic, I don't understand the logic.
Anyway, I guess we'll continue to monitor this situation. Please share your thoughts and/or prayers in the comments. Based on how Oklahoman's are treating the pandemic, we're going to need them.
