Editorial April 24, 1995 Issue

Why so many people are praying today

William E. Moody

An article in USA Weekend pointed to a Gallup poll indicating that, in the United States, 90 percent of the population prays, with some three out of four Americans praying daily. Writer Jim Castelli observes: "Prayer isn't a game or a hobby; it's something that people turn to in order to get through the things that seem impossible to get through." Other reasons people pray, according to Castelli, include a desire for "acceptance and understanding" or to "express awe and wonderment" (December 23–25, 1994).

People also pray to give thanks to God, to praise Him, to seek divine guidance, to overcome sin, to find healing—not only physical healing but life-changing healing, in the broadest sense of the word. And prayer, of course, can take many forms. One might even say that it has as many forms as there are people who pray, for prayer is an intimate and entirely individual expression of one's relationship with God. And it would be presumptuous to claim that any one person's prayer is somehow "better" than another's. None of us can ever know what is in our neighbor's heart. And isn't it really those heart-motives and heart-desires that are so vital to the effectiveness of one's communion with God?

Spiritually-minded thinkers find it tremendously encouraging that, today, more people than ever are praying—and are praying regularly. Perhaps it's the growing materialism of recent decades that has itself created this moral and spiritual resurgence in contemporary society. Many are clearly feeling that even though they have more "things" in their lives, they don't have more satisfaction, or joy, or peace, or fulfillment. Perhaps, too, many people are praying because of the effect of confronting not only the close of a century but of a millennium. Thought is always stirred at these periods that mark such significant milestones in human history. People take stock of where they've been, where they're going, what life means.

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