Why prayer appeals to Americans
For more than six decades, many Americans have participated in National Prayer Day, an event designated by law to fall on the first Thursday in May. But they may have done so with little knowledge of how many others pray or how they pray.
Over recent decades, studies have shown prayer is both widespread and meaningful. A Pew survey released in April, for example, found that among 鈥渉ighly religious鈥� Americans, nearly 9 in 10 say they rely 鈥渁 lot鈥� on prayer to make major life decisions. For most 海角大神s, regular prayer is 鈥渆ssential鈥� to being a 海角大神. Even among the so-called nones, or those with no religious inclination, about 1 in 10 turns to prayer for help in making decisions.
The types of prayer also vary. They range from asking God for help to giving thanks and adoration to submission. A 2010 Gallup survey found those who pray more frequently felt 鈥渁 secure attachment to God.鈥� But as University of Akron sociologists Margaret Poloma and Matthew Lee wrote in a 2011 scholarly article, prayer is more than human activity. The authors cite the Apostle Paul who referred to praying as being 鈥渇illed with all the fullness of God.鈥�
The latest study on prayer may be the most insightful yet. In a statistical analysis of a 2010 survey, Dr. Jeff Levin of Baylor University finds nearly 9 of 10 Americans have relied upon prayer for healing at some point in their lives, either for themselves or for others. Such prayer, he found, may be the most common religious expression outside of belief in God. It is not a 鈥渇ringe activity.鈥�
And, he emphasizes, those who pray for healing are not only 鈥渢he poor, uneducated, rural folks, or old people, or people who are suffering from a health crisis.鈥� Rather, being religious determines a person鈥檚 level of prayer.
Dr. Levin looked at which kind of religious activity, such as reading Scripture or attending a service, might be the highest predictor that a person prays. He discovered that those with 鈥渁 close connection to God, who love God and feel loved by God,鈥� are more likely to pray for healing.
鈥淪tronger affirmation of God as a loving being and past experience of feeling this love make one more likely to tap into God鈥檚 love to make it manifest in one鈥檚 life,鈥� he wrote in the Journal of Religion and Health.
Most researchers miss this 鈥渟ubtext of spirituality鈥� in American life, he states. 鈥淔or active believers and people of faith, prayer, including for healing, is more than a situationally motivated response to one鈥檚 own suffering; it is an ongoing expression of piety and of taking up the yoke to be of service to others by acting as a liaison or advocate between suffering individuals and God,鈥� he concludes.
So for this year鈥檚 National Prayer Day, Americans who pray 鈥� either a lot or a little, either for something or with affirmation 鈥� now know more clearly they are in good company, with plenty of fellow prayers but most of all, a loving God.
