Prayer and violence tend to require opposite attitudes. One involves a posture of helplessness toward the divine; the other a willingness to destroy. That's why, when they do come together, it strikes us as strange and unnerving. The Judeo-Christian tradition has its so-called Imprecatory Psalms, like Psalm 69, which contains verses such as “pour out your wrath on them” (24) and “do not let them share in your salvation” (27). The Quran, too, has its Sword Verses.
But when we think about a typical church service, one in which prayers are offered up to God, in a place of worship, among people who see themselves as individually and collectively inadequate, the penetration of violence into this setting is nothing less than an exogenous shock.
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