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Americans Pray “Just Enough to Get Through the Day”
Orginally published on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 9:11 AM
by Todd Rhoades
90% of Americans pray daily. And Half of us pray several times a day. At least that's what a new study by Brandeis University is saying.
"Most prayer writers imagine a God who is accessible, listening, and a source of emotional and psychological support, who at least sometimes answers back," said Wendy Cadge, a sociologist who directed the research, according to the Washington Times.
80% pray 'informal prayers', starting with greetings such as Dear Lord or Hello Jesus.
And 25% of us pray for ourselves, and only ourselves...
Other insights:
Most of the prayers were improvised and followed similar patterns, the researchers found. Twenty-eight percent were requests of God, 28 percent were prayers to both thank God and ask for help, while another 22 percent were thank yous.
“Prayer writers also tend to frame their prayers broadly,” Ms. Cadge said, adding that the prayers helped people reflect on and “reframe” difficult events in the context of their own beliefs.
Interesting… but 90% of Americans pray everyday? Does that sound high to you?!
Todd
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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.
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Post Your Comments:“Interesting… but 90% of Americans pray everyday? Does that sound high to you?!”
I believe that 90% of Americans believe that they are praying to God. We’ve sort of gone over this one before, but with statistical analysis, less than 25% of Americans can be safely assumed to be born-again Christians. This would mean that 65% of the remaining people are praying to their own concepts of God, asking for quick bail-me-out requests, or believe that they are getting in touch with, “the source,” to quote Wayne Dyer.
In other words, 90% of Americans may be trying to pray to God, but the majority of them are dialing the wrong number. So, yes, that number is extraordinarily high.
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CS
I bet everybody who is a parent prays all day…
CS Says:
“In other words, 90% of Americans may be trying to pray to God, but the majority of them are dialing the wrong number. So, yes, that number is extraordinarily high”
I have to ask: Is there a number you can dial that won’t reach God? I believe in an all-knowing, all-powerful God who hears our prayers and concerns. True, many have a wrong idea about God, but truthfully, how many of us—even pastors—can say we have God all figured out?
I know what you are saying, but I think the first step towards a relationship with God is to reach out in prayer. The fact that 90% pray at all should motivate those of us serious about spreading the Gospel message. It just goes to show that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Peace,
Ray
Ray:
“I have to ask: Is there a number you can dial that won’t reach God?”
Yes. There are a number that come to mind.
-Praying to a false god. If you’re praying in the name of Allah, Buddha, or Vishnu, you’re violating at least the First and Second Commandments. The same goes for praying to the Mormon concept of Jesus or the Jehovah’s Witnesses, which are both false. Ditto Catholic saints.
-Praying outside of the name or authority of Jesus. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between men and God, and our only advocate (1 Timothy 2:5; 1 John 2:1). If we are asking for things in the name of anyone else, or just a vanilla / generic instance of, “god,” we have no go-between to make our petitions known. It is through Christ that we have access to the Father.
In short, we have no way of guaranteeing that God will react to the prayers of the unsaved. He certainly hears everything, being omnipotent, but He is under no obligation to react to the prayers of the wicked.
You’re right, no one will completely understand God, even when being with Him in eternity, but we can firmly understand those things that He has already revealed to us. This includes why Jesus Christ came to Earth, suffered, died on the cross, and was resurrected. Prayer included.
“I know what you are saying, but I think the first step towards a relationship with God is to reach out in prayer.”
I believe that the first step towards a relationship is repentance of sins and putting faith in Jesus Christ in response to hearing the Gospel.
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CS
CS
Many people I have privileged to share Christ with have told me that they asked God to show himself to them. In doing so they met a Christian who them pointed them to Christ.
I have often said to people who struggle with belief in Christ to ask God to reveal himself. when he does that in turn repent and turn to Christ. I am discipleing a couple guys for whom this is their story of faith.
That people pray is good, that God hears is better. Do people pray to a false God? yes. Do people pray to a false concept of God? even more frequently yes in this culture of America. God knows and hears and answers many of these prayers.
I know of many people who have prayed for healing, God healed and then they repented and turned away from sin.
Leonard:
It is truly wonderful when a person who does pray as a lost soul has his prayers answered and comes to faith in Christ and repents of their sins, absolutely. But, I’m sure that you will agree with my assertion that while God most certainly hears all prayers, even from the unrighteous, He is under absolutely no obligation to listen and react to those prayers. Right?
This is why I say, when we have a statistic like, “90% of Americans pray to God,” I can definitively say that many of these prayers will be functionally ignored.
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CS
I don’t know CS, I think that God draws people to himself. I might say that many of the answers are going to be functionally ignored.
I certainly would agree that God is under no obligation to answer prayer. He answers prayer not out of obligation but out of his own goodness.
In all my life I can say I honestly have never met anyone who has never prayed. I include in this atheists, agnostics, pagans, gang members… I just cannot remember meeting someone who has said they never pray.
I do not think the 90% is high, I think it to be about right. I am sure the expectations of those who pray are also skewed. That is why I say rather than those prayers being ignored, I think the answers get ignored.
Going Duck hunting so I will be doing my fair share of praying.
Functionally ignored? No human has any business presuming what God takes notice of and what She ignores. To say one knows the mind of God is to blaspheme!
Joe,
The Christian Scriptures in Romans 12 seem to indicate that if we surrender ourselves to God we will understand his perfect will. Sounds like that is saying that we’ll know what he’s thinking.
90% could only be right if we include the oft-used phrase - Oh, my God!!
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Thanks for sharing.
Thats a very high percentage. 90% of the population prays to God everyday? I believe not even 60% does that.
It is great to see so many Americans are having trust or faith on God. But practically, I do not think the ratio should be this high. The sample taken for the research has not been a representative one.
Great post ....
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i pray to the sun because i know it gives me life and without it i would die
Wow! I like the picture very much.Symbol of worship sounds pretty good.Thats what Indian tradition is honored by the world.
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In all my life I can say I honestly have never met anyone who has never prayed. I include in this atheists, agnostics, pagans, gang members… I just cannot remember meeting someone who has said they never pray.
I do disagree with some of the comments. @ Peter Hamm you said “I bet everybody who is a parent prays all day…” I know of parents that don’t even believe in God, so who will they be praying too. A lot of parents encourage their kids to believe in whatever God the choose.
I grew up in a very religious family and prayer was part of our daily routine - at times three or more times a day.
People are revolting in prayers more nowadays with the increase in economic downturns, bushes fire, massacres and all other bad/evil things happening.
We should all pray and believe in our prayer too.
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