‘A Form of Idolatry’: Democrat Justin Jones Calls Offering Thoughts and Prayers ‘Theological Malpractice’ on MSNBC

Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones, a Democrat, told a vigorously agreeing MSNBC host Ali Velshi on Saturday that offering thoughts and prayers following a tragedy like the Minneapolis Catholic school shooting is “theological malpractice” and accused those doing so of “idolatry.”

Jones is a frequent cable news guest and far-left activist lawmaker who came to prominence when he and other members helped lead protesters in occupying the Tennessee House to protest against guns.

He appeared on the latest edition of MSNBC’s Velshi to discuss the horrific murders of Catholic schoolchildren and parishioners this week. Velshi and Jones were joined by Democrat Gregory Jackson, who served as deputy director of short-lived White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention under President Joe Biden, and who, like Velshi and Jones, said guns and Republican politicians are to blame for the shooting.

Jones also got in on the buzziest media topic of the week when he specifically brought up the idea of offering sympathetic thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families, a practice which has been under fire from Democrats for days.

“I want to bring theology into this because you have all these people who want to give thoughts and prayers after a shooting, but I was a minister and that is a form of theological malpractice,” said Jones.

“When you pray for something that you have the power to change — there’s an African proverb that says, when you pray, you move your hands and feet,” he said. “You know, what we’re seeing is a form of idolatry.”

He claimed that Republicans are “cruel” and “shameful” for not embracing his views on guns, and with Velshi nodding enthusiastically along, added that he would tell other lawmakers to “keep your thoughts and prayers. Keep your tweets.”

“If you wanna address gun violence, you don’t need a tweet, what you need is a mirror,” he said.

VELSHI: There are people who play video games all over the world, and nobody has the problem the way we have it in the United States. So it might actually be about the guns.

JONES: I mean, that’s exactly it. And, you know, I want to take it a step further and say that — I want to bring theology into this because you have all these people who want to give thoughts and prayers after a shooting, but I was a minister and that is a form of theological malpractice.

When you pray for something that you have the power to change — there’s an African proverb that says, when you pray, you move your hands and feet. You know, what we’re seeing is a form of idolatry, where we’re willing to worship the lives of our children to appease the prophets of the gun industry.

In Tennessee, after the mass shooting at the Covenant School, the only law Republicans passed that year was to protect gun manufacturers from litigation. That’s what they did after children were killed in a school. It is cruel, it is shameful, it’s immoral, and it is something that is going to be a dark stain on American history, that we’ve allowed this to go on for so long unchallenged. And we have the power to change things.

And I would say to my colleagues who serve in government bodies, that we —Keep your thoughts and prayers, keep your tweets. If you wanna address gun violence, you don’t need a tweet, what you need is a mirror. You have the power to change things. You have the to power to take action. Now is the time, until it’s your child, because sooner or later it’s gonna hit home. And then it’ll be too late.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.

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