Why the Left Launched a War on Prayer after the San Bernardino Shootings

If you were following social media yesterday in the aftermath of the California shooting, you may have seen some odd tweets or messages such as this:

And this:

Patheos’s own atheist blogger Hemant Mehta immediately pointed out these tweets from famous conservatives:

under the headline:

Republicans Are Praying for Shooting Victims, but That’s About All They’ll Do.

And of course, the New York Daily News had this cover today:

 Why suddenly, as my husband David French put in on National Review, is prayer a microagression? He writes:

The attack on “thoughts and prayers” represents a convergence of two of the Left’s nastiest traits — its hysterical anti-Christian bigotry and its impulse to shame and silence its ideological opponents. There is no American demographic the Left despises more than Christian conservatives. Even as it cherishes Muslim religious liberty and rails against “Islamophobia,” it systematically mocks Christians and attacks Christian religious expression. “Clock Boy” gets White House invites while the owners of Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A are threats to the Republic. Muslim college students deserve a “safe space,” while Christian student groups are systematically marginalized and often kicked off campus.

Combine this bigotry with the Left’s increasing insistence that dissenting speech isn’t just wrong but dangerous and violent, and we have a very real problem. Earlier this week, pro-life Americans were treated to an avalanche of vitriol, with claims that even the most conventional pro-life arguments were inherently provocative and “irresponsible.” As the San Bernardino shooting unfolded, the Left went even further, mocking and attempting to shame any speech that wasn’t in line with their preferred posturing. You’re either part of their “solution” or you should just shut up.

Of course, Mehta also immediately posted this headline as the shooting drama unfurled on national television:

The People of San Bernardino Don’t Need Your Prayers

Wait, but what if the actual victims are asking for prayers?  What if the actual victims are praying?

#SanBernadinoShooting evacuated workers pray together on golf course across street from mass #shooting pic.twitter.com/QyB6UYwocl

— Gina Ferazzi (@GinaFerazzi) December 2, 2015

Well, because the atheist Mehta doesn’t think that’s necessary, let the prayer shaming begin.

David goes on to write:

Lost in all the Left’s online condescension and scorn is any sense of reality. Last night — even as the gun battle raged — they postured over and over about gun control, without offering a single proposal that would have stopped yesterday’s shootings. And even if someone did tweet a bold and original idea, would that tweet accomplish anything? It was all an exercise in virtue-signaling, nothing more.

But the virtue-signaling is backfiring. Offering thoughts and prayers — especially when the facts are confused, people are in pain, and victims themselves are praying and begging for prayers — is an act of compassion.

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