After the tragic terrorist attack in Paris that took the lives of 132 individuals, more than 70 million people from around the world took to Instagram to share their prayers for Paris, with #prayforparis as the No. 1 trending hashtag for most of the weekend. The great thing is, it’s a normative response to any and all tragedies. But when prayer is done publicly apart from times of national sorrow and distress, all of a sudden it’s problematic.
New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson took to social media to point out the hypocrisy in this.
As a nation we have collectively prayed for Paris this week. Yet as a nation we suspend a football coach for praying after a game...We must choose
Posted by Benjamin Watson on Monday, November 16, 2015
Watson was of course referring to Joe Kennedy, a Washington state high school football coach who refused to comply with district orders to stop praying on the field after games.
The comment posted by Watson, an outspoken Christian, has been shared more than 100,000 times since he wrote it Monday afternoon.
This post has been updated.