Thoughts and Prayers Do Help

Many Americans are understandably tired of prayers to end mass shootings. Familiar platitudes such as "thoughts and prayers to the families" seem hollow when offered without clear policy proposals. But the presence of prayer preserves the urgency for action and has since America’s inception. In 1865, amid the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated to his second term as president. He delivered one of the shortest but most memorable inaugural addresses in our nation's history. "Fondly do we hope," he famously said, "fervently do we pray -- that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away."