So after the shooting at a college in October here in Oregon, President Obama said “Our thoughts and prayers are not enough.”. Of course I've seen that sentiment a thousand times on this forum or with other atheists on twitter or facebook, but the Christian President saying it seems to have loosed the tongues of more people.
I think many of you have seen the NY Daily News front page by now.
![[Image: ?format=750w]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=static1.squarespace.com%2Fstatic%2F52c2df7ae4b0d215dded86fd%2Ft%2F565fe5f2e4b020f4bf38c7fa%2F1449125363542%2F%3Fformat%3D750w)
Of course this has angered a lot of people (who pray). They are calling it "prayer shaming", latching onto the whole "Stop shaming us" movement that we see with "fat shaming", "victim shaming", "gay shaming", etc.
Personally, I wold never tell an average, private citizen that their prayers are worthless. Not my mom or a friend, or even a stranger.
However, I do think it IS a useless platitude used in a political and not meaningful way when offered nearly verbatim from a string of politicians who continue to do everything in their power to keep people stupid, dogmatic, fearful, poor, and utterly oppressed with their moronic ideals on women's health, social justice, the vast disparity between the 1% and the rest of us, etc. They don't even MEAN it, so I think they should be called out and this little crappy newspaper deserves some applause for having the guts to say such an unpopular, but true, thing.
So what do you think? Is it ok to tell people to get off their asses and do something instead of praying? Or are we "shaming" people who are really just trying to offer their condolences? Do you tell friends or family how you feel....and how do you feel about it? Is "prayer shaming" even a thing, or are Christians again trying to play the "you are oppressing us by saying mean things!" card?
I think many of you have seen the NY Daily News front page by now.
Of course this has angered a lot of people (who pray). They are calling it "prayer shaming", latching onto the whole "Stop shaming us" movement that we see with "fat shaming", "victim shaming", "gay shaming", etc.
Personally, I wold never tell an average, private citizen that their prayers are worthless. Not my mom or a friend, or even a stranger.
However, I do think it IS a useless platitude used in a political and not meaningful way when offered nearly verbatim from a string of politicians who continue to do everything in their power to keep people stupid, dogmatic, fearful, poor, and utterly oppressed with their moronic ideals on women's health, social justice, the vast disparity between the 1% and the rest of us, etc. They don't even MEAN it, so I think they should be called out and this little crappy newspaper deserves some applause for having the guts to say such an unpopular, but true, thing.
So what do you think? Is it ok to tell people to get off their asses and do something instead of praying? Or are we "shaming" people who are really just trying to offer their condolences? Do you tell friends or family how you feel....and how do you feel about it? Is "prayer shaming" even a thing, or are Christians again trying to play the "you are oppressing us by saying mean things!" card?
“Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?”
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
