Monday, July 30, 2012

The Mysterious Ways

And to think, all it took was three hundred and forty years of throwing filth into the air, good plan.
In 1678, the inhabitants of Fiesch in the Swiss canton of Valais, exasperated with the glaciers that loomed ever larger over their village, swallowing up their pasturage, inaugurated an annual pilgrimage. The hope was to banish the ice forms with chants, prayers and holy water. Several centuries later, their prayers appeared to have been answered.
Yes, thanks to years of dumping pollution into the sky the planet's atmosphere is taking care of those glaciers, answering those prayers. Problem is, if you choose to believe these prayers were answered, then you have to accept this version of God as well, which makes the Almighty kind of a dick.
The Giesen glacier in the Jungfrau massif has developed a large crack, and risks collapsing, potentially unleashing floodwaters on the village of Lauterbrunnen
Now, as the story points out, after a petition from the locals, the Vatican has approved prayers to ask for the glaciers to grow again. I'm sure we'll have an answer by 2356.

Sure we can point out how silly this all is, but reversing the prayers is more than our government is doing.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lauterbrunnen; the New Orleans of the Alps. God's will.

pansypoo said...

oops.