Beyond the inability to understand the basic nature of prayer, one must wonder what kind of complete asshole – as Stanley Kubrick might say – outright rejects and belittles a prayer offered on their or someone else’s behalf to begin with?
While the average American was still reeling from the tragic news that Robin Westman, a transgender woman, opened fire at a Catholic church in Minneapolis on Wednesday, killing two and injuring 17 others, progressives took the opportunity to mock and ridicule the idea of offering prayers and thoughts before the bodies were even cold. Rather than attempting to comfort the afflicted, offer words of healing and wisdom, or simply keep their mouths shut when they have nothing nice to say, they went immediately on the offensive, blaming Republicans and even President Donald Trump. Progressive influencer and entrepreneur Brian Krassenstein fired what can only be described as the first figurative shot, pardon the macabre pun. Long before the facts were in, he declared “At least 20 people injured and two killed in a mass shooting just now at Annunciation Catholic Church and its school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Prayers aren’t working. We need action. If prayers worked a house of prayer wouldn’t experience this.” To those who found this framing objectionable if not outright despicable, he declared “Prayer becomes a problem when it takes the place of real action that could save children’s lives. If that offends you, good, it should.” For reasons that defy explanation, Minneapolis Mayor and die-hard progressive, formerly of the now disgraced and defunct defund the police movement, Jacob Frey chose to repeat this slander and essentially taunt his own citizens in the middle of their shock and despair. “These were American families, and the amount of pain that they are suffering right now is extraordinary. Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying.”
Perhaps needless to say, Mr. Krassenstein was thrilled with this framing, tweeting, “BREAKING: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey after Annunciation Catholic School shooting: ‘Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying!’ Stop paying [sic] for a f-cking minute and demand action by people and not just God.” When Vice President JD Vance noted how bizarrely shocking this entire perspective was, tweeting what should be obvious, “It is shocking to me that so many left wing politicians attack the idea of prayer in response to a tragedy. Literally no one thinks prayer is a substitute for action. We pray because our hearts are broken and we believe that God is listening,” Mr. Krassenstein shot back, “Newsflash: A church just got shot up. PRAYING ISN’T WORKING!” After someone claimed that “God doesn’t take too kindly to being mocked @krassenstein,” he flippantly asked, “What’s he going to do? Kill more kids?” Sadly, Mr. Krassenstein and Mayor Frey were not alone. Former Press Secretary to President Joe Biden, Jen Psaki echoed the same sentiment, saying she had enough with the entire concept of praying, “Prayer is not freaking enough. Prayers does not end school shootings. Prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers.” Another user tweeted, “These children were probably praying when they were shot to death at catholic school. Don’t give us your fucking thoughts and prayers. Trump got rid of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Trump gutted the resources that were in place to keep our communities safe.”
Setting aside how cold, callous, heartless, not to mention completely juvenile and immature given the foul language for no reason, it is to demean the well over half the country who has some form of faith at a time of heartbreak and tragedy, do any progressives have a clue as to the purpose and meaning of prayer in the first place? Personally, I am an atheist and I’ve never prayed in my adult life. In fact, I might not have prayed in my entire life, except for two rather weird instances when I was somewhere around seven or eight years old that seem oddly instructive now. First, I had some weird fear that a snake would escape from the Staten Island Zoo and somehow make its way to my house, get in, and go straight to my bedroom. I wasn’t even afraid of snakes in principle, and I realized even at the time that this was ridiculous practice. Even should a snake escape, we lived miles away from the zoo. How could it possibly make it there, down all those streets filled with cars and sewers? Even so, fear isn’t rational and I still imagined it slithering along the gutters, yard by yard, mile by mile, straight for me, and I guess you could say I prayed it wouldn’t happen. Second and perhaps more realistically, I was briefly afraid the house would burn down in the middle of the night while I was asleep, and though I can’t recall the specifics, I seem to remember praying that wouldn’t happen either. I say “seem to remember” because I didn’t come from a religious family and I wasn’t really sure what a prayer was at that age, except to ask God for something. Regardless, it appears my seven or eight year old self had a more mature view on the practice than supposedly intelligent progressives, the self-proclaimed adults in the room, as incredible as that sounds. Even at that age, I didn’t think I was making some kind of wish to a divine being that would definitely grant it if I do so hard enough. Instead, I understood in my own childish way that it was a means of comfort when I was frightened. By praying the horror I imagined didn’t come to pass, it helped to calm my mind when I couldn’t sleep at night, offering me hope in the face of fears, however irrational.
Somehow, however, today’s supposedly mature and wise progressives, those who believe they can govern our lives, seem to think that religious people of all faiths pray because it “works,” as in, it is truly some kind of magical wish. You pray, God hears you, and does it. They do so without explaining what that would even mean when religions – again generally all faiths – accept the idea that we live in an imperfect, fallen world where terrible, horrible, unspeakable shit happens from disease to accidents with war and psychotic killers in between, for reasons we cannot truly explain. If prayer “worked” in the way of wishes, how could that be the case with billions of people praying on a daily basis? Do Mr. Krassenstein, Mayor Frey, and Ms. Psaki think that religious people simply haven’t noticed that there’s evil in the world despite their prayers? Are they under the illusion that people of faith pray because they truly believe the world can be made perfect if they ask a higher power frequently enough? Are they that stupid and blind, or do they think everyone else is to not have noticed that prayer serves many purposes including to comfort the mind, comfort others, and bring a little light into the darkness?
Incredibly, their confusion can be solved with a simple Google search, proving that AI might well be smarter than they are because at least the machine knows that people don’t pray to fix all the world’s problems or to get God to grant them wishes. As Gemini framed it, “People pray for many reasons, including to connect with a higher power, seek guidance, offer gratitude, find comfort in difficult times, confess sins, and receive blessings or forgiveness. Prayer serves as a method of communication with a deity, a way to express needs and emotions, and a spiritual practice to deepen one’s relationship with God and their community, regardless of specific religious beliefs.” Even beyond their inability to understand the basic nature of prayer, one must wonder what kind of complete asshole – as Stanley Kubrick might say – outright rejects and belittles a prayer offered on their or someone else’s behalf to begin with? While I might not personally pray – though I do have a lively inner monologue with myself that probably serves much of the same purpose, I would guess – I have never and would never turn down a prayer from others even if it wasn’t a huge sign of disrespect and disregard for their feelings and beliefs. When someone tells me I am in their thoughts and prayers, I do not call them names and say it won’t work. Instead, I thank them for the sentiment, and perhaps more importantly, I mean it because I am touched that they’re thinking about me in the first place. Even if I do not believe a deity is actually listening, it is meaningful that someone is taking their time and energy to include me, my family, and any challenges or hardships we are facing in their thoughts. It’s a gesture that connects us, a sign of empathy and compassion, you know the very things progressives claim to have a monopoly on, whether or not we ourselves are religious.
For example, my lovely wife is not an atheist. She likes to say grace and give thanks before every meal, frequently adding a little coda about whatever is going on in our lives, sometimes big and sometimes small, whether someone is traveling or undergoing surgery or whatever. Crucially, she never says, “God make this right.” Rather, she says, “Keep your hand upon them,” knowing that the worst could still happen yet believing that even if it does, God will still be there in some form, however mysterious. When she prays before dinner, what do I do, mock her and claim it’s not gonna work, this person is doomed? Of course not, I bow my head, close my eyes, and embrace her faith and her thoughts even if I don’t believe it possesses any real spiritual power – because you know what, even if God himself or herself isn’t listening, I am and the rest of the family is and whoever we have over as well. My mother and brother are not religious either, yet they to do the same because it means something. It binds us together. It’s a ritual, where we thank whatever for our meal, add a little detail about what is going on in our lives, and hope for the best.
Is this too hard for progressives to understand or are they only pretending for political purposes? In that regard, there are two other points worth making. Being a complete asshole is one thing, but lying that they actually have some kind of plan that would prevent these horrors is something else. In truth, many of these shootings occur in cities and states with some of the toughest gun control laws in the country, and none of the ideas usually floated about as a replacement for thoughts and prayers – expanded background checks, bans on certain types of weapons, limited capacity magazines, etc. – would have stopped any of these killers either. You could argue that they would be less effective than praying simply because the powers that be in the government would be providing an even more false sense of security. In other words, they are calling for laws that would do absolutely nothing while mocking others for not doing something that “works,” making their position even less defensible and more disgusting. Second, and this is a lesson that admittedly took me some time to learn: If you are not a person of faith, whether agnostic or atheist, you are in the minority. Most people believe and it’s part of being an adult to accept that one doesn’t have a monopoly on the truth. To be a decent human being in a society where your opinion isn’t a popular one requires acceptance, not the bitching and moaning of a child throwing a temper tantrum because they can’t really get what they want. This is especially true if you are a non-believer, where you are tacitly admitting that you do not know the answer compared to a believer who thinks they do, but what can I say? This is modern progressivism: Mocking more than half the country for fake reasons before the bodies are even cold while claiming to be the compassionate ones.
Confessions of a Conservative Atheist 