Why And How People Pray

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A new study has been conducted on why and how people believe in prayer, which has thrown light on people's perception on God, their own psychology and the different aspects of prayer and its benefits.

Happiness, distress, love, health, jobs and even missing things call people to pray. A new Brandeis study by researches brought forth analyses of 683 prayers from a public prayer book of the Johns Hopkins University Hospital between 1999 and 2005.

The analysis revealed that people in general who write prayers sought strength, support and blessings from their prayers rather than explicit solutions to their problems in untoward circumstances in life.

Wendy Cadge, lead author and sociologist, found that the prayers fell into one of the three categories: about 28 percent of the prayers were requests of God, while 28 percent were prayers to both thank and petition God, while another 22 percent of the prayers thanked God.

As with determining the psychology of people praying, the analysis revealed as Cadge quoted that in many occassions, people framed their prayers in such a way to welcome multiple responses to be interpreted as the proofs of their prayer being answered. Most prayer writers preferred to defer to God in a more personalised way, addressing Him as a friend, relative or parent.

According to Cadge, God to most prayer writers, is an ever accessible listener and a source of emotional and psychological support. Confiding in Him through prayer at least had some of them answered said Cadge. She is also of the view that the study provided means for people to become fully aware of their difficult times to understand them behind their beliefs.

The study which is published in the current issues of Poetics, compliments another research to determine if prayer could bring about an influential impact on health.

In short, if not the preferred outcome, people prayed to succor strength to cope up better in their difficult times.