A Model Atheist Response

Today, I found an article, "Alabama Atheists: Governor Riley's Call for Citizens to Pray for Rain Is a Waste of Time, Money", which contains elements that I think should take center stage whenever governments advocate religious solutions to real-world problems.

The article contains some mention of the separation of church and state. However, the bulk of the article focuses on the fact that real-world problems require real-world solutions, and 'religious' or 'faith-based' options are a waste of time and effort.

Presidents are in the habit of calling for a day of prayer after every natural disaster. There is a protest raised regarding the separation of church and state. There should be an equal protest raised to the effect of, "The whole problem comes from the fact that people spend too much time praying and not enough time pursuing options that can actually do some good in the real world. You are wasting time and resources on options that do not work, rather than focusing on real-world solutions that will work."

Each and every time there is a protest over some church-state separation issue, there should be equal time set aside to simply say, "You're wasting time and resources. And because you are wasting time and resources, you are costing lives and allowing suffering that could otherwise be preented."