Thoughts and Prayers

Three cheers for anyone outside the immediate area of a crisis who refuses to pontificate or politicize, but pauses, ponders, and prays.

We do not know what motivated the massacre in San Bernardino. While we do not know, there is nothing worse than saying we should “do” something . . . by which people mean something governmental.

For some reason, waiting to see what motivated an act, where the weapons were gained, and who the killers were is no longer enough. We are refusing to act says the critic . . . and that means passing national gun control legislation. What legislation? Nobody says, but we should do something.

This is at least as trite as an expression under attack today: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the community.”

It is unclear to me why people think praying is doing nothing. If I were an atheist, this phrase would be the equivalent of a public statement of solidarity. What else can a person do in the early moments of a tragedy? When facing the initial trauma of an event, normal people feel sympathy, express that feeling, and this helps everyone.

It helps those suffering.

It helps us cope.

It is meet and right so to do and nattering that thinking and praying  is “doing nothing” manages to not just be false but stupid.

And, of course, I am a theist. Contrary to newspaper headlines, no sensible Christian thinks prayers will cause God to repeal free will. God has given us the liberty to do bad, we have abused this gift, and will go on abusing liberty. Yet if it were not for liberty, we would less than human.

So why pray?

I pray that God will make my heart just. I pray that the victims rest in peace in the life of the world to come. All of this is good for me. I pray that God will work in the hearts of evil men, knowing He does, but adding my voice, as is fit for me to do. I pray God comforts the hearts of those hurting. This comfort does come. This much I have personally seen when a community was hurting over death, natural disaster, job loss, or sickness.

No Christian thinks that we should “only” pray in every situation, but until we know the situation, Christian are too sensible to suggest what we should do more than standing in solidarity and praying for the hurting. Should we go to war? Should we pass gun control stricter than that of Paris? What should be done?

The arrogant know, the wise wait, think, and pray. An ideologue has the answer to everything immediately: it is terrorism, the Jews, the leftwing, the rightwing, Muslims, red necks, mentally ill people … An ideologue has his fool proof foe at hand for every case. As opposed to such ideological certainty, the just live by the truth . . . and the truth takes time.

In fact, “thoughts and prayers” are the only thing appropriate for people to do when they know nothing. There can be no legislation without facts. If the assumption is simply that every act of gun violence is the same, as if an act of terror demands the same response as a local madman, then I say the call to “do something” is folly. It is certain that a vague appeal to “do something” in fact does nothing, comforts nobody, though it may increase a sense of self-righteous omniscience in the person saying it. “We don’t know what happened,” this demigod says, “but we know what must be done.”

Maybe some people do not mean that they will show solidarity and pray during a crisis. They might not pray, though they still have shown solidarity just by their words. Maybe they are phonies. Maybe, but at least they are not politicizing a tragedy not yet understood or calling for actions that may be utterly inappropriate when the situation is understood . . . leaving the sneaking suspicion that they are not only not praying, but not thinking.

My thoughts and prayers are with my fellow citizens in San Bernardino.