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40% of adults pray, says survey | 40% of adults pray, says survey |
(about 3 hours later) | |
People feel prayer changes their lives, with some 42% of UK residents saying they pray, research suggests. | People feel prayer changes their lives, with some 42% of UK residents saying they pray, research suggests. |
Christian development agency Tearfund surveyed 1,000 randomly-selected adults and found one in six prayed daily and one in four at least once a week. | |
After praying, 38% reported feeling "peaceful and content" and 57% said it changed what happened in their lives. | |
The National Secular Society said it saw the survey as an attempt to mask the declining popularity of prayer. | |
But Tearfund, which also conducted a separate survey of 1,000 regular church-goers, said the findings highlighted the prevalence of prayer among those who no longer attended religious services. | |
'Prayers answered' | 'Prayers answered' |
The survey was conducted by TNS for Tearfund to draw attention to its global poverty prayer week. The sample of over-16s were interviewed face-to-face between February and March 2007. | |
According to the survey, even people with no religion reported praying, with 12% praying sometimes. | |
Top prayer topics in order of popularity were family and friends, thanking God, guidance, healing and worldwide problems such as poverty, wars and disaster. | Top prayer topics in order of popularity were family and friends, thanking God, guidance, healing and worldwide problems such as poverty, wars and disaster. |
Tearfund said praying made 30% of people feel strengthened, 22% said they felt close to God, 21% said they felt reassured and safe and 19% said they felt happy and joyful. | |
One in three adults agreed with the statement "there is a God who watches over me and answers my prayer", according to the survey. | |
Young people were less likely than their elders to pray, with just over a quarter of 16 to 24-year-olds admitting ever praying. | |
The proportion of those praying rose steadily as people got older, reaching 51% of those aged 55 to 74 and a peak of 61% of over 75-year-olds. | The proportion of those praying rose steadily as people got older, reaching 51% of those aged 55 to 74 and a peak of 61% of over 75-year-olds. |
'Not so rosy' | |
Matthew Frost, Tearfund chief executive, said: "This report means a great deal to us in our work to help to eradicate poverty through local churches by demonstrating the prevalence and potential of prayer." | |
But the National Secular Society dismissed the report as an "exercise in delusion". | |
Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the society, said: "The Funds' figures do not look so rosy if expressed as 'two in three people do not believe that God is watching over them and will answer their prayers'. | |
"For those who pray - 62% do not think it makes them more peaceful and content, 70% do not find it makes them feel stronger, 79% do not feel reassured and 81% do not feel happier." |