The Demon Prayer Line

According to Lark News—a “good source for Christian news”—Christian churches in the States have been following their corporate cousins in the rush to outsource some of their telecommunications labor—in this case, the venerable institution of the call-in prayer center. As I discovered researching the amazing Aimee Semple McPherson for my book The Visionary State, the practice of fielding telephone prayer requests began at McPherson’s Angelus temple in Los Angeles during the 1920s. The prayer center became a standard part of electronically mediated Christianity—the personal and private side of the broadcasting televangelist exploitation of radio and the boob tube. So we should not be surprised that prayer centers are not exempt from globalization and the exporting of call centers by American companies and institutions. Which means Hindu Indians are now being coached to respond to the Christian prayers the way they are coached to withstand the complaints of angry cellphone users. However, prayer is not as easy to parse as airline reservations. In the lead of the article, we learn that Lori Danes, requesting prayer for her mother’s ulcers, got “Darren” on the line, who proceeded to pray in a strong Indian accent that “all the gods would bless her mightily.” Danes reported that it was “like I’d called the demon prayer line.”

Thanks to Mark Pilkington.