Hi. God here. I am contacting you in response to your prayers regarding the most recent and totally horrific mass shooting in a college/ high school/ elementary school/ bar/ nightclub/ park/ shopping mall/ concert/ movie theater/ bowling alley/ parking lot/ church/ mosque/ synagogue. I have listened to your prayers, America, and I have come to the conclusion that they are cowardly, pointless, and shameful. Your prayers are not helping the victims or their families. Helping potential and actual gun violence victims is a bridge you could have crossed a long time ago, and you chose not to. You pray in order not to feel culpable in horrendous acts of violence. You pray in order to feel good. And for this, I say: fuck you.
A parable:
Once, there was a nation suffering the plague of gun violence. “Help us,” the nation prayed, “save us from the violence.” And God said, “You shall be provided with the legislative tools to ban assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and other wartime instruments of death.” And lo, the nation said, “I’d rather not.” And so nothing came to pass.
“Help us,” the nation prayed a year or so later, “save us from the violence.” And God said, “You shall be provided with the best universities and research institutions in the world, so that you may study the topic of gun violence and arrive at solutions to this public health crisis yourselves.” And lo, the nation said, “Let’s make funding studies of gun violence illegal.” And so nothing came to pass.
“Help us,” the nation prayed a few months later, “save us from the violence.” And God said, “You shall be provided with the best mental health resources in the world, and you shall be provided with wealth beyond compare so that all who are struggling with homicidal or suicidal thoughts will have access to care.” And lo, the nation said, “Sounds socialist to me. Let’s make Medicaid harder to access, not easier. And, oh yeah, our leaders are going to spread hate and xenophobia to give people a reason to commit acts of violence.” And so nothing came to pass.
“Help us,” the nation prayed a few weeks later, “save us from the violence.” And God said, “If you are scared that the Supreme Court will overturn sensible gun laws, if you are scared of the lobbying power of the NRA, then you shall be provided with a way to create Constitutional Amendments overturning the Second Amendment and making it harder for lobbying groups to influence elections.” And lo, the nation said, “A Constitutional Amendment? Sounds kinda complicated. It can’t be done except for all those times it’s been done. Nope.” And so nothing came to pass.
“Help us,” the nation prayed a few days later, “save us from the violence.” And God said, “It seems like many of these shooters are white men. I think you should raise boys differently and look closely at what whiteness does to someone’s psychology.” And lo, the nation said, “How dare you even say that.”
And so God — that’s me — I’m sitting up here going, What the hell is wrong with you? I have given you people a raft. I have given you people a boat. I have given you a helicopter on top of a fucking cruise ship. And still you are drowning???
If you don’t like my tone, it’s called “tough love,” America. You need to change yourself or this will keep happening and it will get worse.
You have prayed for answers, and I have given you answers. You have prayed for guidance, and you have ignored it. So why are you still praying? Is it perhaps because you don’t care about actual holiness and just want to show your low-information followers that you are a religious person even though the particular brand of your religion is based on misleading people by stoking their vanity and replacing patriotic duty with blinkered nationalistic hero-worship?
At a certain point, you need to have an honest conversation with yourself and ask whether you are praying to the God of love (Me), or whether you’re praying and listening to a false God that cheers aggression, that encourages the blind worship of a document that was never meant to be worshipped and, in fact, was designed to be changed, that encourages responsibility for other people and immoral deflection for you, that rules through paranoia and fear, that views finding and killing innocent animals a good reason for why instruments of war should be readily available, that encourages arrogance and pride instead of compassion and listening, and that gives you power so that you can enrich yourselves instead of making the lives of others better.
Your prayers are pointless, your thoughts petty. The problem of too many guns won’t be solved by more guns. Part of the mourning process must involve direct political action; otherwise, the dead are not properly mourned for.
This has happened before. Think back to the Pulse Nightclub shooting. Think back to looking up the victims’ names and faces, looking out at you, their bright eyes now forever shut. Think back to finding out that one of the victims was a nurse who shielded others so they could live while he died. Think back to how they hid in the bathroom. Think back to how young they were. Think back to going to your town’s vigil and lighting a candle with your friends. Think back to one of the speakers saying, “It could happen here.” Think back to the sun on your face; it was so hot that day. Think back to your town’s gay men’s chorus singing the Pete Seeger song “We Shall Overcome.” Think back to clutching your partner’s hand so hard it actually started to hurt them, and so they unclenched their hand and started rubbing your back. Think back to how you were sobbing. How you were sobbing. How you are sobbing.