The Freedom From Religion Foundation is deploring and mourning the most recent U.S. school shooting, which took place Monday in its hometown of Madison, Wis.
FFRF seconds the plainspoken message of Mark Pocan, our congressional representative, about yesterday’s shooting at Abundant Life Christian School, in which three — the 15-year-old student shooter, another student and a teacher — were killed and six injured. Two students are reportedly in critical condition and the other four are reported to be recovering from non-life-threatening injuries.
After expressing heartfelt concern for the victims, their loved ones and the traumatized community, and gratitude to local law enforcement and first responders, Pocan said in his statement: “‘Thoughts and prayers’ offer comfort to the families and communities affected but have not changed our unique reality as Americans. It’s time for action. I am a co-sponsor of several gun violence prevention and youth mental health bills that will help prevent future tragedies like this one.” Pocan then urged some of his colleagues “to grow a backbone and put our children above the gun lobby by passing common-sense gun safety laws that will save countless lives.”
Pocan also posted on social media, “Thoughts and prayers without action means more school shootings, more dead kids.”
FFRF salutes Pocan, a member of the Congressional Freethought Caucus who has received FFRF’s Champion of the First Amendment Award, for his courageous and compassionate response.
Prayer, which the school and others, such as Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, immediately called for in the wake of the news, certainly may offer emotional solace for the devout. But as FFRF principal founder Anne Nicol Gaylor oft-times said, “Nothing fails like prayer.” Likewise, as FFRF’s bumper sticker puts it, “Nothing fails like thoughts and prayers.” Prayer certainly cannot stop a bullet. Nor can it demand reform and pass legislation. As the editors of Scientific American have pointed out: “The science is clear: Gun control saves lives. … Guns are a public health crisis.”
FFRF is urging citizens and policymakers alike to replace empty platitudes with meaningful actions. Comprehensive, evidence-based gun reform is the way to prevent more senseless tragedies like the one that occurred at Abundant Life Christian School.
Only we humans can solve the U.S. epidemic of gun violence — with 323 school shootings so far this year and counting. No deity is going to intervene or save lives from on high. It will not take more prayer but more resolve to rationally follow the data and implement obvious solutions.
The Madison, Wis.-headquartered Freedom From Religion Foundation is the largest national association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics), with 40,000 members, including more than 1,700 in Wisconsin. FFRF works to educate the public about nontheism and to uphold the constitutional principle of separation between state and church.
