Courtesy of James Kunstler's blog, we learned today that a Christian prayer ministry called for clergy around the Washington, D.C., area to join together yesterday to pray for lower gas prices.

This is the kind of news story that one suspects doesn't need much comment. But that's not going to stop How the World Works!

Actually, I'm surprised at these people. If there's one thing I've learned to count on from evangelical Christians in this country, it's that they usually think big. Praying for lower gas prices seems like a clear case of aiming too low. Why not pray for fusion power? Or a hybrid SUV in every garage? Or for the immediate relocation of all that oil currently controlled by desert-dwelling heathens to the God-fearing, but somewhat depleted, oil reservoirs of Texas?

Praying for low gas prices demonstrates a pitiful lack of ambition. It's like praying that someone from the government would take pity on our 75-dollar-a-tank gas bills and write us a check for $100. What's the point?

You just know God has to be having a little chuckle about this. God is well aware that low gas prices contribute to the profligate waste of fossil fuel resources, inhibit investment in renewable-energy technologies and just plain aren't good for the environment. Low gas prices, obviously, are an instrument of Satan.