I saw a post today that said, “There is something deeply hypocritical about praying for a problem you are unwilling to resolve.” I started to think about just how true that was. In the wake of so many tragic mass shootings and losses of life, so many people are quick to share about it and say they are praying for the families affected, praying for the loved ones of the victims, praying that it doesn’t happen again, or praying that everyone is safe. But what does praying do when that’s the only thing you do?

You pray for these things, but when a political candidate runs on a gun reform stance, you laugh and say that no one is taking your guns away. You say, “You’ll never take my guns from me, but I pray for the families of the innocent children who were gunned down.”

Please explain to me how that makes sense. Maybe you wouldn’t shoot up a school, but other people will and have many, many times. The fact that you’re so self-centered that you can’t see beyond your own selfishness of it just being someone trying to take your guns away, even if it’s for the greater good, is so hypocritical and ridiculous. At that point, your “prayers for the families affected” mean nothing, and they aren’t doing anything for anyone.

Your prayers aren’t giving anyone comfort. Gun control, so people can have peace of mind when sending their children to school, will give them comfort. And you can try to argue all you want that criminals will still get guns, and so they will. But these mass shootings aren’t usually by a gun that was obtained illegally. It was their parent’s gun that they had in the house or their own gun that they were able to purchase because they had a clean record, so that argument is invalid.

There is no need for the average person to own multiple guns or assault rifles. It makes no sense. You don’t need an assault rifle to defend your home unless it is a zombie apocalypse, which it is not. Everyone is pro-life until it comes to gun control. You are all more worried about saving a bundle of cells in some random person’s uterus than you are full-grown children in a school. That, I will never understand.

I hate how hypocritical it is when people always offer prayers for tragedies after the fact, but hate any solution that anyone comes up with to possibly prevent a future tragedy. People are quick to offer prayers when a loved one commits suicide. They say they can’t believe it and they had no idea they were struggling that much. But they are the same people that perpetuate the negative stigma around mental health. When someone has a problem, they tell you to pray about it, read the bible, or talk to a pastor, but that’s not what someone that’s seriously struggling needs. They need therapy and medication, but you say, “Don’t talk to some stranger about problems in the family.”

That doesn’t make any sense. When people try to destigmatize mental health and talk about the things they struggle with, you call them snowflakes or tell them to man up. When someone talks about affordable or free healthcare, you scoff and say, “You’re not using my tax dollars to pay for that.” But, then you turn around and say, “Oh prayers for your family! I can’t believe they did that! I wish someone knew they needed help.” Even if they did try to get help, medication is expensive, and therapy is expensive. So for some people, there are no options, but at least you prayed for them, right? That helped a whole lot.

It’s the same with the LGBTQIA+ community. People kill themselves, and you say prayers for the family but are constantly voting for people that want to take their rights away and make them feel like less than a person. You say you can’t understand why someone would commit suicide, but you tell them they are wrong for just being who they are and that they are sentenced to some eternal damnation for it. It’s insane. Religious people are some of the most hypocritical people I’ve met on this planet, just picking and choosing which parts of the bible they want to follow, and then sometimes even making up their own things to be against that aren’t even in it.

And what about when a family member or someone you know gets sick and has to start a GoFundMe, have bake sales, or sell BBQ plates to pay for treatment because healthcare is so expensive and they can’t afford the treatment they need to live? You wouldn’t dare vote for anyone that wants universal healthcare or “socialized medicine” because Fox News told you it was bad and scary, but you go buy your little $10 BBQ plate and think you really did something to help.

NEWS FLASH!
You didn’t.

Actually helping would be voting and advocating for change in this country. You won’t do that though, but at least you prayed for them, right?

The hypocrisy is baffling, just totally and completely mind-boggling. You can pray all you want, but until you start trying to make a change, all you’re doing is saying words that hold no weight. Support candidates that want change, sign petitions to put pressure on politicians to get laws put into place that benefit everyone, not just yourself.

Get off your ass and do SOMETHING, literally ANYTHING!