{"id":11175,"date":"2026-03-20T09:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T20:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/?p=11175"},"modified":"2026-03-19T17:52:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T04:52:37","slug":"why-the-toxic-diabolical-responses-to-thoughts-and-prayers-after-mass-shootings-fuel-more-evil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/?p=11175","title":{"rendered":"Why the Toxic, Diabolical Responses to \u2018Thoughts and Prayers\u2019 After Mass Shootings Fuel More Evil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>\u201c[We] are fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That simple tweet from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) this week in the wake of the deadly school shooting in&nbsp;Uvalde, Texas, predictably sparked a litany of angry responses dismissing prayer and demanding legislative action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, I don\u2019t care much about people\u2019s opinions on Cruz or his political postures, and this piece isn\u2019t about the gun control debate. What I\u2019m concerned with is contemporary culture\u2019s overwhelming confusion about the purpose and power of prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The \u201cthoughts and prayers\u201d mantra has become a convenient target for those feeling the emotional toll of gun violence. The immediate, guttural reaction is to lash out at conservatives and Christians \u2014 the vast majority of whom are authentically offering compassion to victims and their families \u2014 and mock or belittle their invocations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cYour thoughts and prayers do nothing!\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;is the common rebuttal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The immediate assumption is that offering prayer after a mass shooting is somehow an \u201cawe shucks\u201d moment in which conservatives lazily shrug while simultaneously hoping some magical fairy pops up and casts a spell imploring sadistic people to stop engaging in unfettered violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sure, Christians would love nothing more than for changed hearts and minds to abound, but that\u2019s not why people offer invocations after events like the horrors we just witnessed in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Critics fail to understand why people pray amid tragedy \u2014 why Christians turn to the Almighty on behalf of others. When I say things like, \u201cPray for Texas,\u201d I\u2019m thinking of\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The parents and loved ones of the 19 parents and two teachers whose lives were tragically snuffed out<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The first responders who were forced to witness and handle the aftermath of the unthinkable<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The children in the room who survived and will forever be forced to deal with the images of evil and suffering that a maniac seared into their minds<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The school staff who made it out and are struggling with survivor\u2019s guilt and terror over what could have been<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The nation so desperately in need of the only solution we keep pushing away and ignoring<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>My list could go on\u2026and on. But the pertinent point: people are praying for peace, strength, and resilience. These prayers are compassionate and selfless acts, and the people offering them are taking the time and devoting themselves to seeking God on behalf of the bereaved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a topic I spoke about in 2018 (see below) and it remains stunningly evergreen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>People who attack us for offering \u2018thoughts and prayers\u2019 after a tragedy, like the Santa Fe shooting, don\u2019t understand prayer\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Even atheists should be able to appreciate these prayerful acts of kindness \u2014 a quest to see beyond the self and to seek the peace of others. Yet, our toxic and anger-fuelled culture misunderstands peoples\u2019 purposes and seeks to use calls for prayer for political score-grabbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s unfortunate, disingenuous, and blundering, and the critiques do little to move society in the right direction. Beyond that, there\u2019s a more sinister reality: prayer dismissals undermine the only proper antidote to the culture\u2019s increasingly unrestrained hatred and evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If there\u2019s a God who created and loved us \u2014 which there is \u2014 then we need Him. Our devastating cultural decision to ignore Him is exactly how we got here and these dismissals only fuel that horror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even&nbsp;\u201cThe Late Late Show\u201d host James Corden had to get his ding in, proclaiming this week, \u201cWords of thoughts and prayers will come from our leaders, but I fear change never will.\u201d And Rep. Eric Swalwell (R-Calif.) tweeted, \u201cKeep praying. We\u2019re working.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I understand the want for discussions about prospective laws and regulations, and I believe we are commanded to take action if and when possible. It\u2019s unclear what that action should look like and if any measures would have prevented these recent tragedies, but that\u2019s not really the core issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Keep praying. We\u2019re working.\u00a0https:\/\/t.co\/RMzjnRE7BO\u2014 Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell)\u00a0May 27, 2022<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The deeper problem at the root of our crisis is that&nbsp;<em>we\u2019re a people who have fallen away from the eternal.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>American culture continues to devolve at a rapid pace. We\u2019ve told God we\u2019re the arbiters of our own truth; we get to decide what\u2019s right and wrong. We\u2019ve abandoned a baseline built on a rock for one constructed on sand, and, unsurprisingly, we\u2019re slowly sinking into the abyss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s hard to listen to Corden, Swalwell, and others plead for \u201cchange\u201d when our culture has so haphazardly opted for radical chaos. Weirdly, we somehow still anticipate and feel entitled to supernatural order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019re broken, tattered, beleaguered, and lost, sprinting in the wrong direction with glee. We cannot legislate our way out of cultural sepsis. Sure, lawmakers can and should explore all options while balancing constitutional bounds. But that won\u2019t fully or comprehensively fix our rot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With even the most pervasive gun control measures on the books, one won\u2019t take away the insidious evil that convinced a teenager it was permissible to enter a room filled with innocents and brutally murder 19 children and two adults. That level of depravity requires a change no lawmaker \u2014 and no human \u2014 can achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, act. But&nbsp;<em>pray<\/em>. Scripture tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (ESV) to \u201cpray without ceasing.\u201d Pray for the victims\u2019 families. Pray for heart change. And pray for healing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But above all else, push back against the secular chaos that has permeated our nation and has derailed our world by reaching hearts and minds for Jesus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201c[We] are fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde.\u201d That simple tweet from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) this week in the wake of the deadly school shooting in&nbsp;Uvalde, Texas, predictably sparked a litany of angry responses dismissing prayer and demanding legislative action. Now, I don\u2019t care much<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[110,179],"coauthors":[454],"class_list":{"0":"post-11175","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-faith","8":"tag-christianity","9":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11177,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11175\/revisions\/11177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11175"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=11175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}