9 Dead in SC church shooting

[Brian37]

An organization I am proud to have founded, the Freethought Society of the Midlands, has started a fund for the families of survivors that has raised over $3000. I know the Secular Humanists of the Low Country based in Charleston and other humanist groups in the state are also involved.
http://www.fsmidlands.org/

There will be a lot of "funds" claiming to be for this. Se if we want to help in that way, we may do well to contact the families directly of find out from the local funeral homes how we can get money to them.

As for criticizing the prayer, you know that under normal circumstances I'd come down on it with both feet. But I wouldn't tell a person how to express their grief. However, the asshole who wrote the article is not expressing grief, he's being an opportunistic jerk.

I was told that one of the survivors is a 5-year-old girl whose grandmother told her to play dead.  Can you imagine a child that young knowing how to play dead?

I hate this bullshit, whenever something like this happens, it is never a good time to talk about it. BULLSHIT, compassion is fine, but no one is talking about disturbing the event of mourning or the immediate family in the moment. But commenting about the logic of any claim outside those events as an outside observer is fine.

Prayer does not work, and I am tired of people hiding behind any event to avoid criticism to what amounts to merely talking to yourself.