Ocasio-Cortez trashes prayer

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., listens to President Donald Trump's State of the Union address on Feb. 5, 2019 (Video screenshot)

Many Twitter users, from whom Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has drawn much of her celebrity status, are turning on her after she trashed prayer in her comments about the New Zealand mosque shooting.

More than four dozen people were killed in shootings at two mosques there.

"What good are your thoughts & prayers when they don't even keep the pews safe?," she wrote on Twitter.

"'Thoughts and prayers' is reference to the NRA's phrase used to deflect conversation away from policy change during tragedies."

Twitter user Mark wrote: "Hey AOC! Ever wonder how many more of these shooting (sic) might take place if not for prayer?"

Another, Jim Roller, wrote: "Maybe you are of no faith but prayers heal hearts and minds for both those directly affected by the event and those who seek understanding. Pain caused by the actions of those terrorists is real and so is prayer for healing."

Creation Comic wrote: "Prayers and thoughts are what keep people of faith strong and purposeful. Knowing God hears us and loves us gives us confidence to go on in the face of adversity. The fact that you don't seem to have faith is sad and I genuinely hope you accept the Lord into your heart … soon."

Wrote Dan Edmonds: "A time of great vulnerability for church communities that trust in prayer and a god who answers whose prayers. Maybe don't trash prayers to this audience."

"Did you really just claim we must come together as a country right after you finished mocking our religion?" wrote Drew.

"This is exactly what 'my thoughts and prayers are with you' means. You cannot despise someone you are praying for to have their pain and suffering eased. A unification in prayer is stronger than you know. Complete strangers reaching out to God in love for someone hurting," said Judy Huggins.

Ocasio-Cortez began with:

At 1st I thought of saying, “Imagine being told your house of faith isn’t safe anymore.”

But I couldn’t say “imagine.”

Because of Charleston.
Pittsburgh.
Sutherland Springs.

What good are your thoughts & prayers when they don’t even keep the pews safe?pic.twitter.com/2mSw0azDN8

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 15, 2019

Then she added: "This is a time of great vulnerability for our communitites. We must come together, fight for each other, & stand up for neighbors. Isolation, dehumanizing stereotypes, hysterical conspiracy theories, & hatred ultimately lead to the anarch of violence. We cannot stand for it."

Then came, wrote a blogger on the Twitter news-aggregating site Twitchy, her "doozy."

She said: "('Thoughts and prayers' is reference to the NRA's phrase used to deflect conversation away from policy change during tragedies. Not directed to PM Ardern, who I greatly admire.)"

"So HEY Christians and NRA members, her tweet was just crapping on YOU, not PM Arden who she greatly admires," the Twitchy blogger wrote.

"Sometimes there are just no words to adequately describe how awful someone is … this is one of those times."

However, the site noted, Dana Loesch had an answer:

Pretty sure thoughts and prayers isn’t anyone’s phrase, and prayer especially (which you mocked earlier after what happened in a house of prayer?) is a real action, a petition to, a conversation with, God -- in this case, to request protection, comfort for those suffering.

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) March 15, 2019

Twitchy said: "Who mocks prayer when people have just been murdered in a house of prayer? Just freakin' wow."

Silent Majority wrote: "This is truly wrong AOC. As a Christian, we are bound to pray for others. To keep the struggling top of mind. For us, prayer is not just empty words, it is speaking straight to our Father in Heaven. On behalf of the hurting. To belittle this intimate process is wrong."

And Rascal said, "Thank you for showing us, yet again, that you are willing to mock people's faith in order to make a political point."

Ocasio-Cortez has a reputation for outlandish statements.

For example, during a recent congressional hearing she demanded that Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan explain why his company was involved in caging children.

He patiently explained the company wasn't engaged in any such activity.

She's also openly wondered whether it's OK "to still have children" in light of the world "ending in 12 years."

She's also taking heat for alleged campaign violations involving "dark money" while promoting a "green" plan redistributing trillions of dollars of other people's money to fund, among other things, people "unwilling" to work.