A New York Times reader drew the ire of Vice President-elect JD Vance after the individual complained about their neighbor’s prayers to the liberal media outlet.
“My neighbor won’t stop praying for me. What should I do?” the reader, whose name was not disclosed, asked The New York Times Magazine’s ethicist columnist.
The reader revealed that their neighbor, described as a “sweet friend” and “a caring person,” is “very religious” and frequently offers prayers.
“She prays for me and says it in person, texts and emails for even the most minor of situations. I’ve told her my view of religion and that she doesn’t need to pray for me. She said she has to, otherwise she’s not following the Bible. I’m trying to ignore this, but it’s really bothering me that she can’t respect my wishes,” the reader continued.
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JD Vance slammed The New York Times reader for taking issue with their neighbor’s prayers. (Getty Images)
The columnist told the reader that she is glad the two are being honest about their different views concerning prayer, however, the stakes for each individual “don’t seem comparable.”
“If you don’t think these prayers will do you any good, you presumably also don’t think they’ll do you any harm. By contrast, she thinks that you’ll be worse off without them and that praying for you is her duty,” Kwame Anthony Appiah wrote.
Appiah also told the reader they are not entitled to ask the neighbor that they stop praying but can reasonably ask to refrain from informing them when she prays.
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Silhouette of faithful woman praying with rosary beads at sunset. Concept for religion, faith, prayer and spirituality. (Photo by: Pascal Deloche/Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) (Pascal Deloche/Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
“Still, instead of requiring that your octogenarian neighbor change her ways, I wonder whether you might change yours — and learn to accept this woman for who she is, hearing her prayers as a sincere expression of her loving feelings toward you,” he added.
Vance also weighed in on the reader’s dilemma, albeit with a less sympathetic response.
“What should you do? Accept it as a sweet gesture and stop being a weirdo. Or: consider that the woman praying for her neighbors has it more figured out than the person whining to the paper,” he wrote on X.
Nikolas Lanum is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.
