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Faith

Facebookers Show ‘Sending Prayers’ is More About Them

A man's hands folded in prayer123RF

Members in a Facebook group focused Hurricane Helene’s aftermath asked people to ease back on the ‘sending prayers’ comments.

You wouldn’t think people would use comments claiming to be “sending prayers” maliciously. But on social media these days, anything is possible.

Recently, I saw a post in a Facebook group about damage from Hurricane Helene, which devastated parts of several states. A poster made a perfectly reasonable request. But some more self-righteous Christian types decided to “weaponize” their faith to do exactly the opposite.

A perfectly reasonable request

As of Wednesday morning, the death toll from Hurricane Helene has surpassed 160. Knowing the lethality of the storm and resulting flooding, imagine having lost contact with a loved one.

I’ve seen several posts with photos of people the poster hasn’t been able to reach. You can read between the lines the desperation they feel for word from that person. With communication cut off in the hardest hit areas because of power failures and infrastructure damage, there’s no easy way to check in.

Some Facebook users are trying to be supportive. I have no doubt that they mean well. They show their support by posting comments like “Sending prayers that you hear from them soon.”

It seems like an innocent, sweet gesture, right?

But one of the people who’s searching for their missing loved one raised a great point. She asked that people stop posting comments just to say that they’re sending prayers. She then explained her reasoning. I’ll paraphrase:

It’s so disheartening to see a comment notification on your post and you think it’s to let you know that the person is OK. But then it’s just one prayer post after another.

Honestly, that wouldn’t have occurred to me. I might have left a “praying” post in a situation like that, although I tend to not do that, particularly when I don’t know the person. Frankly, it’s none of their business whether I pray for them or not. I can pray anytime I wish for anyone I wish.

I’ve always felt that it bordered on the edge of being self-serving to proclaim that I’m praying for someone. The action, I believe, is far more important than the notification about the action. (For what it’s worth, Matthew 6: 5-15 might agree with that notion.)

The response to the request was far less reasonable

Some “overly-religious” apparently took offense to the request. Rather than stopping for a moment to consider the person’s point of view, they decided to up the ante.

They left comments arguing about how much prayer can accomplish. No one was debating that.

They left comments with the prayer emoji. That felt like a slap in the face.

They left comments saying they were still sending prayers. That felt malicious.

Facebook does have the perfect reaction for such instances. It’s the “Care” reaction that looks like the smiley emoji is embracing a heart.

No, it’s not hands folded in prayer. But it conveys concern, which is exactly what “sending prayers” ought to convey. But by piling on arguments about the power of prayer and adding more messages saying that they were sending prayers anyway, they were potentially adding to those loved ones’ distress.

It wasn’t the time to be malicious with a message of prayer. It wasn’t the appropriate time to try to win an argument.

If anything, it was a time to demonstrate a little extra compassion, which is what you’d think people who’d proclaim they were praying would most want to do to begin with.

Maybe they should have stood down from their religion and taken an extra moment to read the room.

the authorPatrick
Patrick is a Christian with more than 30 years experience in professional writing, producing and marketing. His professional background also includes social media, reporting for broadcast television and the web, directing, videography and photography. He enjoys getting to know people over coffee and spending time with his dog.