U.s. News Teamed Up With The Internet Site ...

U.S. News teamed up with the Internet site Beliefnet on a survey to learn more about why, how, where, and when people pray. Here is a summary of the more than 5,600 responses to the survey.

75.6 percent of those who responded are Christian.

64 percent say that they pray more than once a day.

65.1 percent say that when their prayers relate to health, they pray about mental health or depression.

56 percent say that they most often pray for family members.

3.3 percent say that they pray for strangers.

38.3 percent say that the most important purpose of prayer is intimacy with God.

41.2 percent say that their prayers are answered often.

1.5 percent say that their prayers are never answered.

73.9 percent say that when their prayers are not answered, the most important reason is because they did not fit into God’s plan.

5.1 percent said that they pray most often in a house of worship.

79.4 percent say that they pray most often at home.

67 percent say that in the past six months, their prayers have related to giving thanks to God all the time.

Topics: Prayer, Spiritual Formation, Belief

Source: www.usnews.com, December 20, 2004