Brandon Ambrosino flags a new survey suggesting that “among praying adults [in the US], 1 in 4 say God answers all their prayers, and 37 percent say God answers some of them. Only 3 percent of those who pray think God answers none of them”:
Religious people aren’t the only ones praying. A Pew study from 2013 found that more than 1 in 5 religiously unaffiliated, or “nones,” said they pray daily. This trend is particularly evident among Millennials, as I recently reported. According to a study out earlier this year from Carnegie Mellon University’s Integrated Innovation Institute, while only 52 percent of Millennials look to religion for guidance, 62 percent of them say they talk privately to God. This suggests that Millennials aren’t giving up on God — more of them are just cutting out the middleman and going straight to God with their prayers.
As for what Americans are praying for, LifeWay reports that 74 percent pray for their own needs and difficulties, and 42 percent pray for “my own sin.” The study also found that Americans are generous with their prayers: 82 percent pray for friends and family, and 38 percent pray for those who’ve experienced natural disasters. People who pray seem less concerned with praying for politicians (12 percent) and celebrities (5 percent).
Morgan Lee has more:
One-third of Americans said they pray several times a day, and 17 percent pray once per day. Less than one in five say they never pray. Among Protestants, 61 percent pray at least daily, and 43% several times a day.
Who prays? Men are less likely to talk to God than women: one in five say they never pray (22 percent), vs. 1 in 10 women (11 percent). Roughly 20 percent of whites (19 percent) and Hispanics (20 percent) say they never pray; in contrast, only five percent of African Americans say the same.
Drum snickers that his favorite result “is the 5 percent of respondents who prayed for success in something they knew wouldn’t please God”:
This is great. Apparently these folks are more willing to be honest with a telephone pollster than with God despite the fact that God already knows. If it displeases Him, then that’s that. You aren’t going to fool Him into making it happen anyway. I’m also intrigued by the 20 percent who prayed for success in something they “put almost no effort in.” That’s fabulous! Not that they did it, mind you. That’s just human nature. But that they were willing to fess up to this to a telephone pollster. Is there anything people aren’t willing to confide to telephone pollsters?
The Dish 