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This article draws on the anthropology of crisis to analyze ways in which communal‐religious responses to crisis situations can reveal engrained social and cultural structures, and especially their gendered aspects. We focus on two alternative forms of Jewish communal prayer service that emerged in Orthodox communities in Israel during the first year of the COVID‐19 pandemic: street and balcony minyans. Based on interviews and texts, we explore Orthodox women's experiences of these new religious spaces that entailed the rearrangement of traditional gender and spatial boundaries. We show that while these spaces opened room for new religious experiences for women, they ultimately accentuated their experiences of exclusion. We argue that the destabilization of the physical religious space in these alternative communal prayers reinforced symbolic gender boundaries. Thus, our study not only demonstrates how crises can uncover the deep social grammar of a community, but also how they unearth processes that defy and challenge that grammar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite prayer's central role in religious life, quantitative research on prayer typically focuses on its frequency without regard to the total amount, to why, to whom, or for what a person might be praying, nor how people feel when they pray. In this paper, we broaden our understanding of the prayer practices of American adults by focusing on their (1) quantity of prayer, (2) style of prayer, (3) purpose of prayer, (4) prayer target, and (5) emotional state during prayer. Using the Baylor Religion Survey (N = 1248), collected January–March 2021, we present frequencies and findings from factor analyses of key conceptual dimensions of prayer and then indicate how prayer dimensions correlate with each other and vary by basic religion and demographic variables. Our findings provide a detailed picture of these relationships and also provide researchers with best practices in how to measure the various dimensions of prayer in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This netnographic study examines Reform Jewish rituals transmitted by virtual platforms, Facebook and Zoom, during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Reform Judaism, which supports modern liberal theology, has adopted the usage of technology for Shabbat services. The transition from the physical space to the virtual one challenges the performance of the ritual: Rabbis change the ritual's structure, and during online services, the congregants have different feelings toward the congregation and their own spiritual worship, made manifest in changes in their usual religious gestures. A positive result of the move to the virtual space is that though the Reform Jewish congregations, as non‐Orthodox communities, have been excluded by the state, virtual prayers further expose Reform services to Israeli society. However, this might hinder societal support if it is shown that the community can conduct its services without an actual formal space. This study illuminates the intersection of virtual space, religious praxis, and political conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly religious Americans are relatively likely to oppose lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) rights and many churches are unwelcoming to sexual minorities, which may lead LGB Americans to retreat from religion. To assess this possibility, we investigate trajectories of religious change for sexual minorities and other emerging adults. We use two longitudinal data sources (National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and the National Study of Youth and Religion) to explore how sexuality predicts the likelihood of decreasing religiosity in emerging adulthood. Results show that three different operationalizations of sexual minority status—attraction, behavior, and identity—are each strongly and consistently associated with disaffiliating from religion and declines in religious service attendance. On the other hand, sexual minority status has inconsistent and relatively small associations with changes in prayer. We conclude by discussing how these results further understanding of religion, sexual identity, and the current generation of emerging adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how religious beliefs and practices influence the reception of international relief and development aid in impoverished communities. Specifically, I explain how Nicaraguan recipients' prayers both enhance and constrain their ability to assert themselves as 'empowered' actors during aid interactions. Data come from observations and interviews over a two-year period with 81 Nicaraguans in communities that receive aid from Christian development organizations. Compared to secular constructions of aid interactions, prayers provide space for Nicaraguans to position themselves as influential actors effecting change for themselves or their families. Through prayers, recipients portray themselves as influencing the actions of more powerful parties, including God and potential donors. They also pray for donors' well-being, thereby offering spiritual reciprocity for material gifts. However, the same prayers that empower individuals at the interpersonal level constrain their ability to envision transformation of social structures. These findings shape understandings of prayer as aligning actions, of the moral and social dimensions of receiving care from strangers, and of the complex and contradictory ways religious practices influence discourses of empowerment and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We recruited 110 college students for an experimental investigation of the role of guilt in motivating religious behavior. We induced guilt in half of the participants before asking all subjects to indicate their current interest in prayer. Overall, participants in the guilt condition were more interested in praying, but this effect was not observed among those high in grandiose narcissism. Our findings make a contribution not only to the study of the role that emotions have in motivating religious behavior, but also to the study of narcissists' susceptibility to guilt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been much work on the effects that individual prayer has on a variety of social-psychological indicators, yet there remains a lack of research on collective prayer. While it is tempting to assume that collective prayer may be analyzed as the aggregate of individual prayers, the research presented in this article suggests that worshipers pray differently when in community than when by themselves. To understand the role of collective prayer in the practices of faith communities, I draw on work on group culture and ritual to create a framework for analyzing collective prayer. I assert that collective prayer represents a meaningful social performance that locates those conducting it within wider fields of meaning. I conclude with suggestions for future work, including examining how collective prayer acts as an element of conflict as well as unity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prayer is often an interpersonal phenomenon. It represents not only a form of social support shared between or among people, but also a means of embedding an unobservable actor (God) within a conventionally observable social network. This study considers whether the receipt of intercessory prayer from close network ties is associated with future-oriented well-being. Analyses use social network module data from the Portraits of American Life Study (PALS), a nationally representative study of American adults containing a breadth of information not available in prior studies of networks, prayer, and well-being. Despite experiencing more instances of recent adversity (mental or physical health problem, financial trouble, and unemployment), prayed-for PALS respondents report the highest levels of optimism. Furthermore, the association between network prayer and optimism is robust to inclusion of individual-level indicators of religiosity. Finally, other forms of social support that an individual receives from his or her close ties do not explain the benefits of intercessory prayer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Americans believe God answers prayers, but scholars know little about how individuals handle situations in which they perceive that prayers have gone unanswered. Using data from an in-depth interview project with current and former victims of intimate partner violence, I argue that perceived unanswered prayers cause challenges to belief systems that elicit attribution processes-or cognitive processes through which individuals try to explain the causes of actors' behavior-whose outcomes are explanations for why God did not answer their prayers. I find that the outcomes of these attribution processes are God-serving justifications, or attributions of God's perceived unanticipated or problematic behavior that define this behavior as appropriate to the situation. God-serving justifications for unanswered prayers fall into three types: (1) appeal to higher loyalties, (2) affirmation of benefits, and (3) denial of the pray-er. I conclude with a discussion of the implications and limitations of the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prayer is the most common form of religious practice and a central part of religious experience, yet little is known about whether individuals' prayer activities and beliefs tend to remain stable or develop over the life course. This study examines change during the course of older adulthood in a range of dimensions of prayer, including total frequency of private prayer, specific beliefs and expectancies regarding prayer, and the contents of prayers. Data come from four waves of an ongoing longitudinal survey of Christian older adults, covering a period of seven years. Growth curve analysis was used to model patterns of within-person change in these factors. Linear increase was observed in total prayer frequency and in beliefs about prayer emphasizing placing trust in God over expecting immediate rewards. Frequency of prayer increased for all types of prayer contents, including prayers for others, for God's will, in thanksgiving, for guidance, for health, and for material goods. Only the belief that one's prayers are answered remained stable during the course of the study. Results highlight the dynamic nature of prayer beliefs and behaviors in late life, and partially support a pattern of growing faith maturity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social actors use prayer utterances (e.g., statements such as 'prayed over,''prayed about,' or 'spent time in prayer') as aligning actions that justify problematic or questionable courses of action and prevent possible negative characterizations. The prayer utterance functions as an aligning action in American society because of Americans' beliefs and actions concerning the efficacy of prayer in solving problems and because prayer is viewed as a sign of personal morality and trustworthiness. Three examples of individuals who use the prayer utterance as an aligning action serve as illustrations of this argument (Oprah Winfrey, Alabama State Supreme Court Justice Sue Bell Cobb, and President Barack Obama). Scholars should investigate the uses and functions of prayer utterances in social life and should also investigate the possible uses of other religious talk as aligning actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between education and the importance of religion in everyday decision making is examined using data from two national surveys of American adults. People who have higher levels of education are less likely to rely on the Bible and the teachings of their place of worship for guidance in their decision making. However, previously undocumented contingencies attenuate the effect of education: (1) attending religious services regularly; (2) involvement in religious activities; (3) praying more frequently; (4) believing in the literal interpretation of the Bible; and (5) greater certainty in one's personal faith. These patterns hold net of income, which is also negatively associated with religious-based decision making-and only the socially integrative aspects of religiousness attenuate that association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines cross-national differences in the religiosity of immigrants in Europe utilizing three different measures of religiosity: religious attendance, praying, and subjective religiosity. Hypotheses are formulated by drawing upon a variety of theories-scientific worldview, insecurity, religious markets, and social integration. The hypotheses are tested using European Social Survey data (2002-2008) from more than 10,000 first-generation immigrants living in 27 receiving countries. Multilevel models show that, on the individual level, religiosity is higher among immigrants who are unemployed, less educated, and who have recently arrived in the host country. On the contextual level, the religiosity of natives positively affects immigrant religiosity. The models explain about 60 percent of the cross-national differences in religious attendance and praying of immigrants and about 20 percent of the cross-national differences in subjective religiosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prayer has increasingly been used as an empirical measure of religiosity. Recent developments include Ladd and Spilka's Inward, Outward and Upward Prayer Scale, which measures what respondents think about while praying, and Poloma and Pendleton's Measure of Prayer Type, which measures four different dimensions of prayer as well as degree of intimacy with the divine. The present study provides a factor analytical evaluation of both measures, including an examination of total scale and subscale reliability. The measures were administered to a sample of 518 Irish respondents. Although the total scales and subscales were found to be reliable, confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the hypothesized factor structures were a less than optimal fit of the data, while correlational analysis revealed a conceptual overlap between the measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a 2001–2002 sample of adults aged 65 and older living in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, we examine the associations among religious involvement (as measured by the frequency of attendance at religious services and praying), the belief in divine control, and the sense of mattering—a key component of the self‐concept. We also assess the extent to which these patterns vary by gender, race, and education. Findings indicate indirect effects of religious attendance on mattering through divine control beliefs and the frequency of social contact. Praying increases mattering indirectly only through divine control beliefs. Moreover, divine control beliefs are more strongly associated with mattering among women, African Americans, and individuals with less education. We discuss the contribution of these findings for theory about the links between religious involvement, beliefs about God, and psychosocial resources, and the influence of core dimensions of social status and stratification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the association between religiosity and personal mastery in the Chinese context, testing two theses: relinquished control and personal empowerment. Using data from a nationally representative sample of 1,881 Taiwanese adults, I find that: (a) beliefs in karma and one supreme God and prayer are negatively associated with the sense of mastery and (b) the estimated net effect of some devotional activities, such as meditation, appear to be robust, statistically significant, and positive. Implications of this study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research project sought to examine the multiple functions that prayer serves in the coping process for members of Christian groups. We used concept mapping to describe and organize a small group of participants' perceptions concerning the functions of prayer when coping with personal difficulties, as well as examined the frequency and perceived effectiveness of these prayer functions. The number and variety of items generated by participants indicates that prayer can be used in multiple ways to deal with personal problems. Inspection of these items and the resulting concept map yielded three bipolar dimensions that describe a variety of prayer functions: approach/avoidance; internal focus/external focus; and deferring/self-directing. The arrangement of items also corresponded roughly to a three-factor structure found in several existing coping measures. Participants reported that the most effective prayer functions involve seeking guidance and expressing gratitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides support for a model that conceptualizes prayers as the means to establish cognitive connections in three directions: inward (self-connection); outward (human-human connection); and upward (human-divine connections). A confirmatory factor analysis demonstrates a single general prayer factor divisible into three subfactors that are in turn comprised of eight discrete scales. Measures of general religiosity, the need for structure, religious styles of coping, well-being, life-satisfaction, and belief in the paranormal provide evidence of convergent and divergent validity for the theory of prayer as a mechanism for inward, outward, and upward connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the relationship between private prayer and participation in voluntary association. We argue that prayer fosters a cognitive connection to the needs of others, and thus promotes membership in associations that emphasize personal relationships. Private prayer is not related to membership in political groups. The effect of prayer is strengthened by membership in religious groups, suggesting the relevance of both organizational and devotional aspects of religion for civil society participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent investigations concerning ways people employ prayer typically suffer from either a fundamentally atheoretical approach or an indiscriminant mixing of affective, behavioral, and cognitive components. The present study examines the theory that a general concept of prayer-as-connection contains prayers of inward (connection with oneself), outward (human-human connection), or upward (human-divine connection) foci. Participants rated words or phrases according to what they "thought about" while praying. Factor analysis revealed eight primary factors: two inward, four outward, and two upward. Three second-order factors emerged (two outward and one upward). However, no general factor appeared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship of frequency of prayer to eight subcategories of physical and mental health. As part of the ongoing Presbyterian Panel, 1,412 active Presbyterian pastors drawn from a national, random sample were surveyed by mail regarding their frequency of prayer and self-perceptions of health outcomes. The results indicated a high level of functioning overall for all eight categories of physical and mental health. Predictably, frequency of prayer was extremely skewed towards high frequency. Despite a lack of variation in both health and prayer, high frequency of prayer was significantly related to higher scores in three health outcomes: vitality, general health, and mental health. These relationships remained significant in the analysis even after controlling for the influence of demographic variables, such as gender and age. Various explanations of the results are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While most religions provide a meaning system that helps people cope with personal problems, there has been relatively little research on how and why men and women seek religious consolation and comfort. Data from a national longitudinal survey, Americans' Changing Lives, Waves I and II, were used to examine whether physical and mental health problems precipitate seeking religious consolation. The findings indicate that seeking religious consolation is most likely among those who identify with and practice a religion suggesting that religious consolation intensifies among religious persons. Chronic (non-serious) conditions were associated with increased religious seeking over time, and cancer was associated with higher religious seeking, especially among women. Depression was associated with greater seeking of religious consolation among both men and women. The results reveal clearly that women are more likely than men to seek religious consolation, but men seek religious consolation for a wider range of health and situational problems (e.g., unemployment). The finding also demonstrate the importance of considering the role of religious consolation in studies of religion and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses various articles published within the issue, including one on an analysis of religions freedom around the globe, another on how the state interacts with organized religion within a particular policy-specific context, and another one on prayer behavior in the context of the developing nation-state Tanzania.

There has been very little empirical research about prayer. No convincing psychological theory exists, nor does agreement about definitions or basic concepts. In our research, open-ended questions were used to determine the meaning of prayer for modern youth. A computerized procedure (TexTable) was used to analyze the answers. The results showed that the common prayer of youth can be summarized in one sentence, composed of seven structural elements: "Because of some reason (1. need) I address myself (2. action) to someone or something (3. direction) at a particular moment (4. time), at a particular place (5. place), in a particular way (6. method) to achieve something (7. effect)." These seven structural elements and their individual contents (totalling 45 categories) were analyzed for praying frequency and denomination. The correlations among the structural elements pointed to rather weak connections of needs, actions, and effects. This finding could be clarified by applying Clifford Cleertz's (1966) constructionist definition of religion to a definition of prayer. Praying was described by the respondents as a coping strategy, mostly used to make things acceptable as they are (e.g., death and suffering), but sometimes also as a motivational device or an anticipatory action to change things according to one's wishes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the emphasis of the research was to examine language use in prayer meetings and commitment mechanisms in the process of induction, seven Catholic pentecostal prayer groups were studied by participant observation and by interviewing key members. These data show that testimony (or "witnessing") is the central commitment mechanism Although glossolalia may serve as a symbol of commitment, testimony is a greater commitment mechanism since it includes both acts of involvement and abandonment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on Peter Berger's definition and description of religion. Peter L. Berger has proposed definitions and descriptions of religion. The purpose of his efforts is to place some boundaries around the area of scientific study of religion. Berger is much concerned with such dichotomies as the secular and the religious. Berger is wary of defining: many definitions of religion are really reductionist; others are really post hoc rationalizations; some are used ideologically. He stresses transcendence and the transcendental in connection with religion, almost to the point of making them the sine qua non of religion. Berger, however, mentions the mundane act of study as "a preliminary to religious mysticism." Judaism, however, considers study as higher than prayers, etc., and, therefore, to the devout Jew study is not a trigger to religious experience; it is a religious experience. Religion is better defined as the system of practices and ideas, or perhaps better said, mental and psychological devices, which help men overcome, obviate, alleviate, or counteract fear and anxiety and the subjective and physiological effects thereof.

In a cross-section metropolitan sample of 938 adults, a measure of psychopathology was found to be negatively correlated with church affiliation, with church attendance, and with increased church attendance at a time of life crisis. Psychopathology was positively correlated with reported prayer at times of life crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One hundred and sixty elementary school children were individually interviewed regarding their conception of prayer and the affects and fantasies associated with prayer activity. The prayer concept seemed to develop in three stages which were related to age. At the first stage (ages 5-7), children had a global conception of prayer in the sense that theft comprehension of the term was both vague and fragmentary. Children at the second stage (ages 7-9) had a concrete differentiated conception of prayer and recognized that it involved verbal activity. At this stage, however, prayer was still an external activity, a routine form, rather than personal and internal. At the third stage (ages 9-12), children had an abstract prayer conception in the sense that it was regarded as an internal activity deriving from personal conviction and belief. Only at the third stage did prayer emerge as a true communication between the child and what he considered divine, between the I and the Thou. With increasing age, the content of prayer also changed from egocentric wish fulfillment (candy, toys, etc.) to altruistic moral and ethical desires (peace on earth, etc.). At the same time, affects associated with prayer activity became less impulsive and more modulated among the older children while prayer came to be a deeper and more satisfying experience. The fantasy activity associated with prayer changed from a belief that prayers were self-propelled missiles to the view that they were a form of direct communication with God. The results are discussed from the developmental point of view and the parallel between the development of prayer in the child and in Western civilization is pointed out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the study of spontaneous religion. For research purposes it is convenient to distinguish between the spontaneous and the acquired religion of the child. The child's spontaneous religion consists of an those ideas and beliefs that he has constructed in his attempts to interpret religious terms and practices that are beyond his level of comprehension. For example, upon hearing that God was everywhere, a boy refused to occupy his favorite chair for fear of 'sitting on God' and thus revealed his spontaneous conception of God's omnipresence. In contrast to these spontaneous mental constructions there are many religious ideas and beliefs that the child acquires directly from adults either through imitation or through instruction. A child's recitation of the standard definition of theological terms or of particular prayers would thus reflect acquired rather than spontaneous religion. It is fair to say that by far the majority of research on religious development has concerned itself with acquired rather than with spontaneous religion.