The front cover of the New York Daily News for Thursday took a swipe against how some politicians are reacting to the San Bernardino shooting.
The headline says, “God Isn’t Fixing This.”
The story criticized Republican presidential candidates for “preaching about prayer” while being silent about gun control.
California already has strict gun control laws.
“As latest batch of innocent Americans are left lying in pools of blood, cowards who could truly end gun scourge continue to hide behind meaningless platitudes,” the cover reads.
House Speaker Paul Ryan and GOP presidential hopefuls Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham all responded to the attack with tweets about “prayers” for the victims of San Bernardino.
The Daily News’ tweeted image of its provocative front page is currently the most retweeted of 2015 for the news organization, according to Twitter.
Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said in a Washington Post article, “I’m hard-pressed to think of a more cynical and exploitative headline at a time of national mourning.”
According to Christianity Today, David Gibson, a reporter for Religion News Service, suggested that there should be more discussion about the nature of prayer.
“Amazing how many people don’t understand what prayer is,” he tweeted. “Calling all religion writers.”
Meanwhile, Democratic presidential hopefuls, including Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, took a different tone and called for “action” to stop gun violence.
President Obama underscored the need for stronger gun control laws in the United States after Wednesday’s mass shooting, which left at least 14 dead and 14 wounded.
“There’s some steps we could take, not to eliminate every one of the mass shootings, but to improve the odds that they don’t happen as frequently,” Obama told CBS News.
Some twitter users also called out for more congressional action.
David Mignery tweeted “@SpeakerRyan We need more from you than prayers.”
But others tweeted that calling for prayer should not be mocked at a time like this.
— by Jessica Durando | USA Today
CNJ staff also contributed to this story