Thoughts & Prayers are Killing Us

Yesterday, there was another school shooting.

I paused a beat to write my response because, honestly, addressing this topic is starting to feel like beating a dead horse. I’ve written about gun violence so many times, and yet here we are again—grieving the reality of children being buried to a chorus of religious platitudes.

Let me begin by saying this: the number one cause of death for children in this country is gun violence.

Number one.

Regardless of whether you vote left or right—I’ve done both in my years as a voter—as a country, we need to acknowledge that inaction is no longer an acceptable response to this crisis. Not while our children are dying. Ignoring this problem, deflecting it, or throwing empty platitudes at it is a profound moral failure across the board.

And nowhere have I seen this moral failure play out as spectacularly as it does when politicians sit on the news just hours after a school shooting and offer us thoughts and prayers.

Quite literally, nothing else. I am so sick of it all.

Spiritual bypassing is the act of using faith as a shield to avoid responsibility. I see this most in the conservative right, where Christian nationalists use the gospel of Jesus as a tool of political expedience.

This pattern of behavior begs more than a few questions, like: why is the party that successfully overturned Roe v. Wade—one of the most significant political actions of this century—now suddenly lacking the appetite for action when it pertains to gun violence? Why is it that when children are dying in schools, suddenly their hands are tied?

We’ve seen this again and again in the aftermath of school shootings. Like an abuser who apologizes repeatedly without changing their behavior, America is stuck in a cycle of hollow gestures.

Here’s the hard truth: inaction is not neutral. It’s complicity. And when you are complicit in the face of so much death, you are actively choosing harm. What motivations, I wonder, could justify turning away from the suffering of others and refusing to act—especially from the very politicians who claim to represent the interests of Jesus?

It seems to me that these individuals feel far too comfortable relying on the grace of the cross while neglecting the fact that Jesus also called us to carry our own.

Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). What this means is laying down our self-centered motives, our ambition, and our ego. It means humbling ourselves to a mindset of loving others and fighting for the greater good.

I do not believe any of us genuinely thinks this is what our politicians are doing. And if you follow the money, it becomes very clear why inaction is their response every time. For far too many politicians, thoughts and prayers have become a shield to hide behind—a smokescreen for their refusal to act while the gun lobby continues to line their pockets and fund re-election campaigns.

When I think about this issue, I think about my children—not just what I’m trying to protect them from, but what I’m trying to teach them as well.

In my home, I’m working to instill the belief that the best apology is changed behavior. It’s clear, though, that some parents did not teach this important lesson to the politicians leading our country.

How many apologies are we going to hand out while children are being buried after school? “I’m sorry, kids. I’m sorry. This is the reality you live in, but we just can’t do anything about it. God bless you.”

I simply cannot accept this as reality. Not as a mother. Not as a person of faith. Not as a decent human being.

The children of this country are owed an apology, and the best apology we can give them is action—a changed country. Don’t they deserve the basic safety of going to school unafraid, or sleeping without nightmares of gunmen?

This isn’t about being left or right—it’s about humanity. It’s about understanding that you cannot claim moral high ground while remaining complicit through inaction.

And if you claim to follow Jesus, I am now especially talking to you. Christians, you are called to act—to love your neighbor as yourself, to carry the cross of accountability and sacrifice, and to move beyond platitudes toward meaningful change.

So I guess it is time to answer the question: do people of faith bring transformative action or do they simply bring empty words? Because from what I hear, faith without action is dead—and at this point, so are too many children.

We don’t all have to agree on what change should look like, and our ideas for solutions may vary from person to person. But surely, we can all agree on one thing: inaction is no longer acceptable.

Not when so many tiny, precious lives are hanging in the balance.

If nothing changes, nothing changes. And my God, something has to change. Thoughts and prayers are killing us. This sentiment isn’t sufficient.

We need some common sense gun laws in this country, to ignore that is an insult to the dead.

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For ways to take action and help address gun violence in America, visit https://www.everytown.org/

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