Facing criticism for responding to yet another mass shooting with “prayers” but no action, House Speaker Paul Ryan apparently decided to give Donald Trump a run for his money in the the say-a-stupid-thing-about-guns sweepstakes:
When asked about the backlash on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” show, Ryan said the criticism was “disappointing” and said “people who do not have faith don’t understand faith,” and claiming the “secular left” is responsible for some of the “disunity” in the U.S.
“It is the right thing to do in moments like this because, you know what? Prayer works,” he said. “And I know you believe that and I believe that and when you hear the secular left doing this think, no wonder you have so much polarization and disunity in this country when people think like that.”
Riddle me this, Paul: if prayer both works and is the correct response to mass shootings, the one likeliest to get a good result, why does the U.S. have so many mass shootings? Are you praying for the wrong thing? Or do you believe you’re praying to a God who wants the United States to have so many mass shootings? Speaking as a member of the more or less secular left, I just wonder what on earth you put your faith in.
Ryan is of course being either spectacularly stupid or spectacularly dishonest (or, considering the source, both) here. The problem the left, no matter how secular, has here is not that Republicans in Congress are praying for victims of mass shootings, it’s that that’s all they’re doing. Pray all you want! But don’t pretend that’s the only answer when you’re in Congress, charged with making the laws of the nation.