‘Pray for CNN’: Network crucified for bashing ‘thoughts and prayers’ tradition

‘Thoughts and prayers’ is a phrase bandied about by well-wishers after almost every national tragedy but, according to a new study reported by CNN, atheists would actually pay not to receive them.

Sending thoughts and prayers to the afflicted in the wake of a disaster is often criticized as a self-serving and ultimately pointless endeavor. After all, no amount of thoughts and prayers is going to rebuild homes flattened by Hurricane Dorian or cover funeral costs for the families of mass-shooting victims.

A team of researchers at the University of Wyoming set out to assign an actual monetary value to these thoughts and prayers. Enlisting 400 North Carolinans affected by the recent Hurricane Dorian, the researchers split them into two groups –Christians and atheists or agnostics– and asked them how much they’d pay for a thought or a prayer.

The Christians were willing to pay an average of $4.36 for a prayer from a Christian stranger, or the princely sum of $7.17 for a prayer from a priest. The atheists, however, were willing to hand over about $1.66 to avoid a prayer from a priest and $3.54 to dodge the blessing of a Christian stranger.

“One might expect that atheists/agnostics would be indifferent to people praying for them – why care, if you don’t believe in the gesture?” one of the researchers wrote. “But that is not what we find – atheists and agnostics are averse to prayers, to the extent that they are willing to abstain money in order to ensure not to get a prayer from a Christian stranger.”

The article’s conclusion, that “it is important to think about who the target person is when sending thoughts and prayers in the wake of hardship,” and CNN’s reminder on Twitter that “not everyone wants them” had some commenters rolling their eyes.

“Yeah,” wrote one, “when a kind-hearted soul wishes me well, I find it to be a normal reaction to have a meltdown about it.” “Lighten the hell (might not be real) up” snapped another.

“Please pray for CNN” quipped Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who has previously responded to several mass shootings in his home state and acts of international terrorism with the ubiquitous phrase. 

To be fair, CNN could have gone deeper. Some social-justice types have lobbied to list “thoughts and prayers” as “microaggressions against atheists.” One such activist said that the trite phrase evoked “the same feeling as equating sexually lewd comments with compliments.” 

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