I've been pondering the term, "thoughts and prayers", and the overall negative connotation the phrase is affixed to by some non-believers.
I dislike these two terms coupled together, and I know this isn't our doing; I wonder if we would do better to discern one from the other in the eyes of the religious. Surely, thoughts have more potential than prayer.
When the religious say, "I'm praying for you." the typical response I've heard told by our side of the fence goes something like, "I'll be thinking for you." It would stand to reason, then, that claiming thoughts and prayers as useless would only be half true given how highly we regard the concept of thought over the concept of prayer.
I would think that when someone offers up their thoughts and prayers, perhaps they should be informed that they're near the half-way mark of actually finding a way to help if they would only drop the act of prayer to make room for some more thought. Perhaps, taking action may ensue.
What is your take on this?
I welcome your thoughts, but obviously, not your prayers.
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3 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.At the end of the day, only actions matter, but thoughts and prayers can get your head right to be able to take action. That said, I loathe when people type "thoughts and prayers" in response to school shootings. Like really asshole, do you work in a school? Does your mom leave you tearful voicemails, crying that "there was another one" and saying how worried she is about you? I'm a librarian for fucks sake. I shouldn't be having to deal with this possibility everyday. Take your precious thoughts and prayers and shove them.
purcascade
Level 5
Aug 18, 2018
1
I typically say what can I do? How can I help? I don’t immediately offer prayer if I’m not sure how the other person believes. If they ask me to pray for them or with them I do but I don’t want to cause even more upset to someone who may already be dealing with a difficult situation.
Christiep77
Level 7
Aug 17, 2018
1
While I'm vocal about my beliefs, or lack of, I also like to think that on a good day I also have some amount of tact. My grandfather has a lot of love in his heart and he believes in a god and also that he will see his wife and his daughter again.
I don't believe it's in good taste for me to speak my mind on such matters. He knows me well enough to know that I disagree but also well enough that if he asked me to pray for him or for anything that I would at least make a sign of it out of respect for him that I hold so dear. It doesn't change my affiliations or my thoughts and if it brings him a moment's peace then it's worth the song and dance of it.
I prefer action, rather than thoughts and prayers. I associate thoughts and prayers with shootings.
GreatNani
Level 8
Aug 17, 2018
1
I prefer action as well, and I also associate thoughts and prayers with shootings, suicide bombings, honor killings, genital mutilation, forced marriages, the killing of apostates and gays, and everything our sick little minds can conceive and enforce under the guise of authority from a "loving and caring" deity.
What I mean to say here is that thoughts and prayers coupled together can lead to terrible actions in the case of the fundamentalist, or can lead to nothing but wishful thinking with no action at all in the case of the moderately practicing religious person. However, thoughts separate, or rather, independent from prayers tend to gravitate towards a more proactive stance on taking action.
@GreatNani I think the question there may hold my point exactly. Thinking can be powerful, steered in the right direction. If I think about an injustice and how I feel about it, and I don't waste time with the concept of prayer or just leaving it up to a god to sort out, I may start thinking more towards what I actually would like to see happen in response to the injustice.
In essence, change: I am aimlessly thinking of you and your sorrow, into I am now thinking of a way to help.
@MFAtheist Ok well that I can agree with. So the next question is, how do we make the changes? How do you keep from not getting exhausted with everything that should change, or with that fact that so many people do not seem to care? Sorry, depressing post from me. I work with high needs kids who live with a lot of trauma and sometimes it just seems overwhelming!
@GreatNani It's difficult to guard oneself against being inundated by the barrage of atrocities and the indifference that we see towards them is also frustrating. I'd like to think that the best defense against exhaustion and being overwhelmed is to share those feelings with like-minded individuals. Find some kind of calm amidst the storm and remind oneself that tides will always turn, as tides are meant to do.
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