Did Greg Abbott just tell me to pray away the gay on Twitter?

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sent out a tweet tonight saying, “Share a prayer for our friends in College Station. May they find strength in God.”

While I certainly share Abbott’s sentiments on some level, I couldn’t resist responding by saying that, “Gun control works better than prayer after the fact.”

At which point Abbott replied to me: “Nothing beats prayer. I hope you can find that some day.”

It should be noted here that my Twitter profile clearly indicates that I’m the editor of the gay paper in Dallas.

I responded by saying: “I pray that common sense will prevail in this country on the issue of assault weapons. How’s that?” before adding, “I also pray that one day you’ll stop trying to deny committed same-sex couples their civil rights.”

It blows my mind that Abbott actually believes prayer can make up for the lack of any reasonable gun control — or that prayer can literally stop bullets. But I also can’t help but wonder whether his tweet in reply to me may have been a not-so-subtle suggestion that it’s possible to “pray away the gay.” What do you think? The full exchange is below.