A strange thing happened yesterday on social media. Prayer became a microaggression.

As the San Bernardino, Calif., attack unfolded in real time, most Americans knew that dozens of their fellow citizens were suffering, with hundreds more terrified. They knew police were tracking down at least two depraved killers who were armed and dangerous. They also knew there was absolutely nothing they could physically do to stop the killers or heal the victims, so they did what people of faith have been doing since the dawn of human awareness — they prayed. They prayed for protection and courage for the police, for healing and comfort for victims, and for the stamina and precision of the surgeons. They prayed because they know God is sovereign and because that was the single most effective thing they could do — in that moment — for their fellow Americans in grave need.

Suddenly, however, a cascade of leftist politicians and elite journalists pounced. Shut up about “thoughts and prayers,” they said, and “slink away.”

The attack on “thoughts and prayers” represents a convergence of two of the Left’s nastiest traits — its hysterical anti-Christian bigotry and its impulse to shame and silence its ideological opponents. There is no American demographic the Left despises more than Christian conservatives. Even as it cherishes Muslim religious liberty and rails against “Islamophobia,” it systematically mocks Christians and attacks Christian religious expression. “Clock Boy” gets White House invites while the owners of Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A are threats to the Republic. Muslim college students deserve a “safe space,” while Christian student groups are systematically marginalized and often kicked off campus.

Read the article “A Strange Thing Happened Yesterday on Social Media. Prayer Became a Microaggression” on nationalreview.com.