Prayer as a cheap solution

Recently, Gov. Matt Bevin criticized the Revs. Kevin Cosby and Joseph Phelps for speaking out against his public proposal calling for dedicated people of faith to go to targeted blocks in Louisville’s West End weekly for a year to mingle and pray on street corners with residents there in hopes of significantly reducing violent crime.

Bevin’s solution to violent crime does not deal with some root causes: racism, poverty, greed, injustice, guns.

Prayer is powerful, but is it alone going to solve our crime problems? God hears our prayers, but it is up to us to see that what we pray for gets done. It cannot be done cheaply; it will be costly.

As Kentuckians and Americans, are we willing to deal diligently with significantly reducing or eliminating racism, poverty, greed, injustice, gun violence?

If our people have the will and vote, government has the ability to pass just laws and get rid of unjust laws. It so happens Bevin belongs to a political party that on the federal level pushes for trickle-down economics, while calling for social program cuts. Neither works for the common good. God is not pleased or fooled by prayer done publicly for show or for winning votes.

This story was originally published June 23, 2017 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Prayer as a cheap solution."