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Abstract

intervene on god’s behalf. Thoughts and prayers are but empty, hollow offerings; taking action to solve our problems is the best way to accomplish anything.To put it simply, <a href="https://readmedium.com/god-wont-fix-your-problems-e0498716ad93">god won’t fix our problems</a>; we have to fix them ourselves.And, by offering thoughts and prayers instead of action and progress, people in positions of power are actively perpetuating these problems. They are not only putting responsibility onto another party; they’re being actively negligent in their duties to provide and enact solutions.Look, I understand that prayer is helpful to a lot of people. Praying to some sort of higher power is something that many religions share, and it is often a source of comfort and reassurance for people. What I take issue with is using prayer to absolve yourself of responsibility for fixing the problems that exist in the world.I dislike people who put their fate, and the fate of others, in the hands of god. Those types of people are more than willing to sacrifice the lives of people that they don’t know — or sometimes the lives of people they do know — to the whims of a god who “works in mysterious ways.”Look, you’re more than welcome to put your life in god’s hands, live according to your scripture, and make choices that affect your life. However, your religion ends where my nose begins, and when you use prayer and religion as a justification to ignore the suffering of others, I have quite a bit of issue with that.And, when you use it as a justification to actively make things worse, whether through inaction or action, I get pretty grumpy about it. Claiming that god wants us to have as many guns as possible is being willfully ignorant of so many things. It’s a selfish and self-serving position to take, and the fact that god has not seen fit to stop the senseless killings perpetuated by thoughts and prayers seems to indicate that the matter is in our hands, not god’s.Then there’s actively ignoring climate change because, apparently, <a href="https://time.com/4800000/tim-walberg-god-climate-change/">god will take care of it if it proves to be a real problem</a>. Climate change is a major issue that will likely kill or displace millions of people and reshape the Earth in ways we cannot imagine or predict. Simply putting responsibility t

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o fix it on god’s shoulders is ignorant at best and negligent at worst. The blood of millions of innocents is on that congressman’s hands — and the hands of his allies and supporters — thanks to his willful inaction.Thoughts and prayers are not a solution. They are instead actively perpetuating a wide variety of problems that many powerful people are unwilling to solve through action. If you want your god to solve your problems, you have to be your god’s hands in this world and enact that change that will make the world a better place.Simply offering thoughts and prayers are not enough and they never were. It is through the actions of men that god’s will is carried out, and if you want people to stop dying in mass shootings, climate-change-driven disasters, or any number of other catastrophes, you must act.Of course, the people in power who generally offer thoughts and prayers are doing so in place of meaningful action, mostly because money talks louder than the voices of their constituents and congregants. The damage that is done by thoughts and prayers is primarily their responsibility, and the blood of innocents is on their hands.If you are an American Christian and want my advice on what to do instead of offering thoughts and prayers, maybe do something about the issues that you see in the world. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, and just generally do the things that Jesus did.Also, Jesus said literally nothing about guns or gays, so maybe don’t use him as a crutch to prop up your shitty arguments about both. Love people unconditionally — which includes the LGBTQIA+ community — and while you’re at it, maybe make sure that a random guy with $1,000 and a grudge can’t buy a gun and shoot up a school.Prayer can be a powerful force in an individual’s life, but it is no substitute for action in the material world. Go forth and do good. It’s what god would want.Be well out there.If you liked this, please <a href="https://matthewmaniaci.medium.com/subscribe">subscribe to receive my stories by email</a> — I publish something new every day. You can also <a href="https://www.facebook.com/maniaci.matthew/">follow me on Facebook</a>. You could also leave a tip below or hit me up on <a href="https://ko-fi.com/matthewmaniaci">KoFi</a> if you’re feeling nice. Thanks!</article></body>

The Damage Done by Thoughts and Prayers is Immense

God won’t help us now. It’s up to us to help ourselves.

Whenever some terrible man-made disaster happens — generally a mass shooting — there is a predictable chorus of “we are sending our thoughts and prayers to the families affected.” This often comes from particularly religious people, generally on the political right in America, and I hate it.

It’s basically become a meme at this point — oh, another mass shooting? Thoughts and prayers! Climate change? Thoughts and prayers! Someone did a hate crime against a vulnerable population? Thoughts and prayers! Unless they’re a vulnerable population that we don’t like, then they had it coming.

In case it wasn’t clear, I hate the premise of thoughts and prayers. It’s such a cop-out — offering inaction instead of action, intangible aid in place of tangible aid, and a general sense of self-satisfaction where none is warranted.

The big problem with thoughts and prayers, though, is that they offer a sense of having done something when you’ve actually done nothing — at least nothing tangible to help. I may be a curmudgeon when it comes to religion, being a disaffected agnostic since I was 12, but based on the answer rate of the various thoughts and prayers offered by public figures, I’d say god either isn’t listening or doesn’t care.

That’s not fair to the faithful — god could be “working in mysterious ways,” a good generic catch-all for “I don’t know why god isn’t fixing things.” God could also care but has left the world to the free will of humanity, which is also a problem because then “thoughts and prayers” are super-useless. If man has free will to act as god’s instruments of change, then offering mere thoughts and prayers is actively going against god’s intention for humanity.

When you take all of this into account, thoughts and prayers are worse than useless — they’re actively damaging. We live in a world where god doesn’t seem to be intervening unless god’s faithful intervene on god’s behalf. Thoughts and prayers are but empty, hollow offerings; taking action to solve our problems is the best way to accomplish anything.

To put it simply, god won’t fix our problems; we have to fix them ourselves.

And, by offering thoughts and prayers instead of action and progress, people in positions of power are actively perpetuating these problems. They are not only putting responsibility onto another party; they’re being actively negligent in their duties to provide and enact solutions.

Look, I understand that prayer is helpful to a lot of people. Praying to some sort of higher power is something that many religions share, and it is often a source of comfort and reassurance for people. What I take issue with is using prayer to absolve yourself of responsibility for fixing the problems that exist in the world.

I dislike people who put their fate, and the fate of others, in the hands of god. Those types of people are more than willing to sacrifice the lives of people that they don’t know — or sometimes the lives of people they do know — to the whims of a god who “works in mysterious ways.”

Look, you’re more than welcome to put your life in god’s hands, live according to your scripture, and make choices that affect your life. However, your religion ends where my nose begins, and when you use prayer and religion as a justification to ignore the suffering of others, I have quite a bit of issue with that.

And, when you use it as a justification to actively make things worse, whether through inaction or action, I get pretty grumpy about it. Claiming that god wants us to have as many guns as possible is being willfully ignorant of so many things. It’s a selfish and self-serving position to take, and the fact that god has not seen fit to stop the senseless killings perpetuated by thoughts and prayers seems to indicate that the matter is in our hands, not god’s.

Then there’s actively ignoring climate change because, apparently, god will take care of it if it proves to be a real problem. Climate change is a major issue that will likely kill or displace millions of people and reshape the Earth in ways we cannot imagine or predict. Simply putting responsibility to fix it on god’s shoulders is ignorant at best and negligent at worst. The blood of millions of innocents is on that congressman’s hands — and the hands of his allies and supporters — thanks to his willful inaction.

Thoughts and prayers are not a solution. They are instead actively perpetuating a wide variety of problems that many powerful people are unwilling to solve through action. If you want your god to solve your problems, you have to be your god’s hands in this world and enact that change that will make the world a better place.

Simply offering thoughts and prayers are not enough and they never were. It is through the actions of men that god’s will is carried out, and if you want people to stop dying in mass shootings, climate-change-driven disasters, or any number of other catastrophes, you must act.

Of course, the people in power who generally offer thoughts and prayers are doing so in place of meaningful action, mostly because money talks louder than the voices of their constituents and congregants. The damage that is done by thoughts and prayers is primarily their responsibility, and the blood of innocents is on their hands.

If you are an American Christian and want my advice on what to do instead of offering thoughts and prayers, maybe do something about the issues that you see in the world. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, and just generally do the things that Jesus did.

Also, Jesus said literally nothing about guns or gays, so maybe don’t use him as a crutch to prop up your shitty arguments about both. Love people unconditionally — which includes the LGBTQIA+ community — and while you’re at it, maybe make sure that a random guy with $1,000 and a grudge can’t buy a gun and shoot up a school.

Prayer can be a powerful force in an individual’s life, but it is no substitute for action in the material world. Go forth and do good. It’s what god would want.

Be well out there.

If you liked this, please subscribe to receive my stories by email — I publish something new every day. You can also follow me on Facebook. You could also leave a tip below or hit me up on KoFi if you’re feeling nice. Thanks!