'Cold'! Gay Ex-NBA Player Says Public Prayer in San Bernardino 'So Obviously Narcissistic'

December 5th, 2015 12:50 PM

USA Today sports columnist Martin Rogers tweeted this on San Bernardino: “Several distressed locals praying emotionally on corner of S Waterman + Orange Show, just a block from the scene of shootings.” He was surprised at the response from openly gay ex-NBA center John Amaechi: “This is infuriating & so obviously narcissistic (not to mention contrary to teachings of Jesus re: public prayer).”

Rogers wrote a column on the Twitter storm that followed that appeared on page A2 on Friday:

Some stand silent and stoic. Others pray loudly, interspersed with wracking sobs.

When I tweeted about the public prayers on a street corner outside a gas station  Wednesday, the response from many quarters was one of anger.

The most surprising came from John Amaechi, like myself a British citizen who found work and happiness in America. Amaechi, a former NBA player, is a figure I greatly admire. He came out as gay after the end of his pro career and has been an outspoken and lucid proponent of LGBT rights.  Wednesday, he was named Harvard University’s Humanist of the Year.

Amaechi was disturbed enough by the news I imparted about public prayer that he reposted it, calling the actions of those involved “infuriating” and “so obviously narcissistic” — as well as being contrary to Jesus’ teachings on public prayer.

I am not religious. Yet Amaechi’s comments and those like them seemed cold under the excruciating circumstances.

Those from this area who have had their lives disrupted, whether by direct access to the carnage or the surreal experience of seeing somewhere they typically pass  turned into a bloody scene, are not characters in a drama. Their actions are not performances that need evaluation and critique.

They are responses to shock, they are deeply individual and they are not for us to judge how appropriate they are.

Amaechi doesn’t just oppose public prayer. He thinks it’s all pointless, as later tweets confirmed:

“We're just puppets if we are infantilised by a celestial babysitter who demands our constant prostration”

“..it's lazy, self serving, but most of all absolutely, evidentially pointless in the context of ongoing DEATH.”

And: “So @USATODAY thinks my words on prayer harsh, but if your 1st reaction to another's tragedy is prayer, your priorities are screwed up.”