‘http://www.midlandfreepress.com/2011/10/27/not-forgotten’.

This seems a touch narrow-minded. If he were praying because he literally expected help from a deity, then yes, he would be indulging in gross silliness. But if he were praying as a kind of meditative exercise to concentrate his mind, or to remind himself of the need to care for others, then I would be prepared to acknowledge the pragmatic value of what he was doing. I would argue that he could retain the relevant emotional commitments without the need for prayer, but the mythology and the symbolism provide a framework that seems genuinely helpful to some people. I would argue that this is fair enough, as long as they don’t actually believe it.

I’d be all in favour of appointing irreligious police chiefs, wherever practical. But if the overwhelmingly most highly qualified (by other criteria) candidate for the job happens to be somewhat religious, then I would say that he or she should still be given the position.

The conclusion praying = useless.

The man is deluded, and is a police chief?

“Clunis isn’t praying on the job, as far as I know – he’s just waxing enthusiastic about the value of prayer in general.”

If Clunis were not the police chief he would not have been interviewed on CBC.

“even if he were praying on the job, it would still behoove us to listen to his reasons and be prepared to take them seriously. ”

No way! I have no desire to listen to to his reasons or to take him seriously.

Okay, but Clunis isn’t praying on the job, as far as I know – he’s just waxing enthusiastic about the value of prayer in general. And even if he were praying on the job, it would still behoove us to listen to his reasons and be prepared to take them seriously. Let’s leave the knee-jerk hostility and mean-spiritedness to the Harperites, shall we?

To be fair, Clunis seems to be hinting that the prayer will have a psychological effect – if you pray for other people, you’re more likely to do something practical to help them as well. I guess that might be true, but to me it seems equally plausible that people would pray scrupulously for their fellow citizens and then think “well, I’ve done my duty and my knees are sore – might as well take that $5 I was going to give to charity, and spend it at Tim Horton’s”.

In lieu of PR training, which often seems to encourage obfuscation, blandness, evasiveness and the endless repetition of empty “talking points”, let’s hope Clunis simply changes his mind about the power and desirability of prayer.