Your opinion on "Prayer Shaming"?

[Aroura]

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.



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?

[Darkstar]

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?   

I'm pretty much with you on this one. The average people who just say they are praying because they want to help (since they can't actually do anything about it) are a wholly different story from the politicians who say they are praying because they don't want to help (despite that they can actually do something about it). Someone who happens to be a politician and says they are praying but also tries to actually help is fine.

 Do you tell friends or family how you feel....and how do you feel about it?

Uh, no...

Is "prayer shaming" even a thing, or are Christians again trying to play the "you are oppressing us by saying mean things!" card?

They're just whining. It isn't even as though Obama said that prayers were bad, just that they were insufficient to solve major problems on their own. I swear, some people have such thin skin...

[Longhorn]

Hey, crazy idea here. Maybe BESIDES praying, which is literally just thinking about it, you could ALSO try something else?

[Ludwig]

That headline just reeks of tabloid journalism.

[Alex K]

That headline just reeks of tabloid journalism.

Cleverly disguised as sophisticated journalism by the subtle choice of font size and color

[Alex K]

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?

Once again, I am happy to live in an environment that is less soaked in religion. And no, I don't think prayer shaming is a thing. You merely remind people (and I think deep down they know) that their prayers are not really directed at the victims, but at themselves, as consolation and reassurance. People don't like it if you remind them of that and lash out as a knee jerk reaction.

Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen or heard *anyone* in my family pray, if you don't count blabbering along with the Lord's prayer in some service, which I have done on numerous occasions as well.

[Losty]

Telling someone that their prayers are not enough is, in my opinion, a great thing. Telling them that their prayers are worthless is unnecessarily mean (and also untrue in my opinion). I really like the analogy Will Smith's son uses in the very end of Persuit of Happiness. (If you haven't seen that you should because it's a great movie). Even pastors preach that prayer is not enough and a lot of times will tell you that god's answer to your prayer is for you to get off your butt and fix the problem. No one is shaming anyone for praying, but if someone thinks they can kneel on the floor and pray and a problem will magically resolve without any effort having been put forth in any way.....perhaps they deserve a bit of shaming.

[Joods]

Well, according to the bible, prayer in public isn't allowed. So, there's this. However, I don't personally think it's shaming. It's calling them out on their bullshit. Sorry, but in all my years of being a "christian" and praying, god didn't do shit to help me. What exactly do people think their god is going to do for them or for the people they are praying for? Really, I'd like to know.

I get it if they are praying as a source of comfort during a time of grief, but outside of that, I don't see the point.

[LastPoet]

I think people decrease their personal anxieties by saying they will pray for X. I for one prefer to lend any help I can.

For the topic: halp they are persecuting christians again...

[Chad32]

Prayer by itsself doesn't really do anything. You need to do something substantial. So saying you'll pray for someone is useless. What will you do aside from thinking kind thoughts?