Vice President Mike Pence was heavily criticized after he rallied people to pray in light of the tragic Texas church shooting, which claimed the lives of 26 individuals and injured many others.
Some critics said praying wasn't enough and they even derided those like Pence who offered their prayers in the aftermath of the tragedy.
Instead, they want the government to take actions to stop the senseless killings. One of Pence's many critics is popular author Stephen King, who tweeted: "Enough with the prayin'. Time to start legislatin.'"
To support Pence and others who tweeted their prayers in the wake of the horrific shooting, evangelist Franklin Graham took to Facebook and highlighted the importance of prayer. "After the massacre at First Baptist Church, some Democrats on the left had the gall to mock the value of prayer. Stephen King tweeted, 'Enough with the [praying].' I say the opposite is true — we need more prayer. What do you think?" he said.
"House Speaker Paul Ryan was criticized for tweeting about prayer after the shooting. Shamefully, Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu even walked out on a Congressional moment of silence yesterday. I'm so thankful we have a Vice President who knows the value and importance of prayer," he continued.
Pence also defended his call for prayer during an interview with Fox News. "I'm a believer and I believe in prayer," he said. "I know that at this moment of such heartbreak and loss in that community that what most Americans are most able to do is to pray for those families."
Pence added that prayer is not going to distract them from practical action. If anything, Pence said prayer would aid their efforts to identify the problem. He said prayer "takes nothing away from our determination ... to get to the bottom of what happened, to understand the why, to determine whether or not there were errors along the way."
