The bishops of Malta recently appealed to their followers to say rosaries and hold vigils of adoration to ask God for peace in Syria and the Middle East.

Such an archaic mindset assumes an anthropomorphic God who waits for the rosaries and the adoration of human beings before He intervenes in the Middle East.

Prayers for peace have been going on since 1986, when Pope John Paul and leaders of world religions met at Assisi. Their prayers were not answered. In fact, the situation in the Middle East became even worse!

A year after the Assisi prayer meeting, violence – rather than peace – erupted in Gaza and the West Bank during the Palestinian intifada.

The 1990s witnessed the rise of al-Qaeda. The new millennium brought us the horror of 9/11, the war in Afghanistan and the catastrophic war in Iraq.

All the prayers in the world has not prevented the horrific civil war in Syria, the violence and chaos in Egypt or the spread of fundamentalism and terrorism in the Muslim world.

John Guillaumier

ST JULIAN'S