The First Amendment Needs Your Prayers
"If you really are for some new gun-control measure, if you are serious about it, you just might wait a while, until the blood has cooled, for instance, and then try to win people over to see it your way. You might offer information, argument, points of persuasion. Successful politics involves pulling people together. You don’t use a tragedy to shame and silence those who don’t see it your way; that only hardens sides."
"I suspect part of the problem is that a number of the progressive finger-pointers do not really know what a prayer is. Maybe no one ever told them. But prayer is a very active endeavor—it takes time, energy, concentration. You have to stop everything and ask God to hear you."
Peggy Noonan reflects on the reaction of politicos to the recent mass shooting in San Bernadino. Presciently noting the differing reactions of prayer and the politicization of tragedies, Noonan suggests that prayer is necessary in a world wracked by violence. Ultimately, these endeavors enable politicians and concerned citizens to come together to discuss opinions and reach a conclusion beneficial to the common good. In contrast, what does the politicization of tragedy, and demonzing prayer as a useless endeavor, accomplish? It does not advance the necessary conversations, but does our society a great disservice.
The Wall Street Journal l December 3, 2015