A horrific mass shooting in Minneapolis has spawned a heated political debate over the power of prayer versus the power of government.
Liberal Democrats, frustrated by their inability to enact sweeping gun control measures, have long responded with hostility to conservative Republicans offering their “thoughts and prayers” in the wake of mass shootings, viewing it as a dodge on guns.
But following the murder of children at prayer in a Catholic church and school by a shooter who may have been motivated in part by anti-Christian sentiment, some thought the anti-prayer pushback was inappropriate at best and displayed sneering contempt for religion at worst.
Top Democrats at times appeared to be questioning the purpose or efficacy of prayer itself in their impassioned pro-gun control statements.
“Prayer is not freaking enough,” Jen Psaki, a television personality who served as former President Joe Biden’s first White House press secretary, posted on X. “Prayers does not end school shootings. [P]rayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers.”
“These were Minneapolis families. These were American families, and the amount of pain that they are suffering right now is extraordinary,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in his emotional post-shooting speech. “And don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying.”
These children were literally praying as they got shot at,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), a likely candidate for his party’s 2028 presidential nomination.
“It is shocking to me that so many left-wing politicians attack the idea of prayer in response to a tragedy,” Vice President JD Vance responded. “Literally no one thinks prayer is a substitute for action. We pray because our hearts are broken and we believe that God is listening.”
“Why do you feel the need to attack other people for praying when kids were just killed praying?” Vance asked Psaki on X.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also weighed in at Thursday’s briefing. “I saw the comments of my predecessor, Ms. Psaki, and frankly, I think they’re incredibly insensitive and disrespectful to the tens of millions of Americans of faith across this country who believe in the power of prayer, who believe that prayer works,” she told reporters. “It’s utterly disrespectful to deride the power of prayer in this country.”
The two parties have largely sorted on the issue of gun control, as Democrats now represent fewer congressional districts with gun owners, and Republicans have blocked legislation banning the country’s most popular firearms since the federal ban on so-called assault weapons — championed by Psaki’s former boss Biden while he was in the Senate — was allowed to lapse in 2004.
But religion has also become increasingly polarized on a partisan basis, especially among white voters. President Donald Trump won 72% of white Protestants and 63% of white Catholics in last year’s election, while former Vice President Kamala Harris took 71% of the white voters who professed no religion.
Democrats have increasingly relied on white, secular, college-educated voters in recent years, many of whom have little familiarity or experience with traditionalist understandings of prayer. A common refrain among Christian preachers and theologians is that God is not a cosmic bellhop summoned by the button of prayer.
But in times of tragedy, secular liberals do call upon a higher power for deliverance. They exhort the government to act on their article of faith that some new set of gun regulations, or a policy that reduces private firearms ownership or the national supply of guns more broadly, can prevent mass shootings.
The connection between the specific policy proposals and the mass casualty events in question is sometimes unclear, and Minnesota has some of the activists’ favored gun laws in place. But many argue these shootings could at least be limited in severity or more readily thwarted if it were more difficult to obtain weapons that fire off multiple shots in rapid succession or can be especially quickly reloaded.
Former President Barack Obama appeared to be subtly nudging Democrats away from hostility to prayer when he posted, “Michelle and I are praying for the parents who have lost a child or will be sitting at their hospital bedside after yet another act of unspeakable, unnecessary violence.” The closest he came to calling for more gun control was when he said, “We can’t allow ourselves to become numb to mass shootings.”
Yet Obama has been known to call for gun legislation during these events in the past and to throw sharp elbows at Republicans who disagreed, such as after the Sandy Hook shooting, while he was president.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE MINNEAPOLIS ANNUNCIATION CATHOLIC CHURCH SHOOTING
Democrats blame Republican fealty to a powerful gun lobby for their inability to pass federal legislation, some of which polls well, that would curb access to guns. While Republicans often counter by raising issues like mental health, “thoughts and prayers” has become to those who want tighter gun laws a phrase especially like waving a red cape in front of a raging bull.
In a time of literal bloodshed, Minneapolis has become the latest front in the culture wars.