In response to comments saying that prayer is not enough in the wake of Wednesday’s deadly shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school, Vice President JD Vance posted on social media defending prayer.
In a post on X Thursday morning, Vance wrote: “We pray because our hearts are broken. We pray because we know God listens. We pray because we know that God works in mysterious ways, and can inspire us to further action.”
“Why do you feel the need to attack other people for praying when kids were just killed praying?” he added.
These comments from the vice president were in response to an X post from former White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
“Prayer is not freaking enough,“ she wrote. ”Prayers does not end school shootings. prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers."
Psaki is not the only one who has criticized people for sharing their “thoughts and prayers” in the wake of the recent shooting.
Democratic politicians and others have also expressed frustration with leaders offering thoughts and prayers after shooting tragedies like the one that occurred on Wednesday, while little action is taken on gun control, per The Hill.
On Wednesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said: “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying,” per The Hill.
Vance replied to his own X post, adding on to his comments about why people pray, questioning the comments about prayer.
“Of all the weird left wing culture wars in the last few years, this is by far the most bizarre. ‘How dare you pray for innocent people in the midst of tragedy?!’ What are you even talking about?” the vice president wrote.
But these are not the only comments Vance has made on social media about prayer. Earlier on Thursday, he posted that those who are praying do not believe prayer is a substitute for action, as those who are attacking prayer have been saying.
“It is shocking to me that so many left wing politicians attack the idea of prayer in response to a tragedy. Literally no one thinks prayer is a substitute for action. We pray because our hearts are broken and we believe that God is listening,” the vice president wrote on X.