“More Americans pray in their car than in a place of worship, survey finds”*

Wait.  What?! 

Kudos to whoever came up with that headline over at Religion News Service (RNS) because I clicked on that article faster than you would believe! 

As folks in the church world have been wrestling with the research (and felt experiences) of declining worship attendance and overall religious affiliation, there’s a new survey that was conducted that reveals that 6 in 10 Americans say that they pray.  Believe it or not, 85% of those surveyed said that they engaged in some sort of spiritual practice to connect to a higher power.  Though where the headline came from is the statistic that 61% of people said they prayed in their car vs. 46% in a place of worship. 

Now I don’t see this as an either/or scenario.  (Though perhaps it was asked in this way in the survey).  It’s a both/and scenario in my mind. 
The truth is that even if you attend worship every Sunday in a month, that’s only 4-5 hours spent in worship at your house of worship. 
That leaves 700+ hours in most months where we are out in the world living our lives away from our religious community. 
Many Americans spend a great deal of time in our cars, so it makes sense that people pray in their car more than in their place of worship. 
To me, it’s a hopeful statistic that people are out in the world praying to begin with! 
Though one would hope that prayer would soften our hearts to one another and make us more compassionate.  (And perhaps less prone to road rage?) 
Lord, may it be so! 

Love,
Pastor Lauren

*Adelle M. Banks, “More Americans pray in their car than in a place of worship, survey finds,” Religion News Service, May 4, 2023, https://religionnews.com/2023/05/04/more-americans-pray-in-their-car-than-in-a-place-of-worship-survey-finds/

Photo by Rev. Lauren L. Ostrout of the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, Montana (many prayers were said on this road)

Thursday Thoughts 6/1/23