A Miners' Religion: 'We're Praying All the Time'

RALEIGH COUNTY, W.Va., April 7, 2010— -- ''Pray." One word, posted prominently in so many places, is a powerful testament to the faith of this tragedy-stricken West Virginia community.

With roadside signs, billboards and posters taped in windowsills and on church doors, families and neighbors are reminding each other from where it is that they've drawn strength in times of adversity since their ancestors first settled here more than 200 years ago.

Many have also been gathering to pray together inside dozens of non-denominational Christian churches that dot the mountainsides. By one count, there are more than 5,000 churches in Raleigh County to serve the county's roughly 80,000 residents. That's one church for every 16 people.

"This is a strong area in Christ," said Pastor Jeffrey Perdue, a Raleigh County, W.Va. native, whose small Stepping Stone Community Church in Surveyor sits 17 miles south of the Upper Big Branch mine.

"We just trust in the Lord, we're praying all the time," he said.

Perdue, 45, whose 22 year-old son and older brother emerged from the mines safely on Monday, said "trust" in God is what keeps miners and their families going despite hardships.

He and other miners also describe that trust as central to what they call their "miner's religion."

"The Lord is our shepherd," Ronnie McKinney, 62, who worked in Raleigh County mines for 17 years, said of miners' spiritual beliefs. "Hey, you can say that, but he really goes with us down to the dark, cold mines and brought us out time and again. Praise him."

Charlie Athey, a 34-year-old miner and local youth minister, said he escaped death in the Upper Big Branch mine Monday because of the power of prayer.

"The evening shift guy I worked with is a pastor; being with him down there is like church," Athey said, adding the two would pray together and share their faith experiences while working in the mine.

Theirs is a faith that also seems to have delivered them from animosity toward the Massey Mining Co., which owns the Upper Big Branch mine where the explosion occurred, or the role any potential safety lapses may have played in the death of at least 25 friends and coworkers.