believe in the power of prayer. Now, university researchers are offering proof
to a world characterized by violence.
According to a
study out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, people who choose to pray
find personal comfort during hard times. Indeed, the 75 percent of Americans in
the study who pray on a weekly basis turn to conversation with God to manage a
range of negative situations and emotions, including illness, sadness, trauma
and anger.
Through the
course of in-depth interviews with dozens of victims of violent relationships
with intimate partners, Shane Sharp, a graduate student
studying sociology at University of Wisconsin-Madison, discovered a myriad
of ways prayer helped them deal with their situations and emotions through
coping mechanisms such as venting.
For example,
people who were boiling over with anger said they found “a readily available
listening ear” with God. “If they vented their anger to that abusive partner,
the result was likely to be more violence,” Sharp says. “But they could be
angry at God while praying without fear of reprisal.”
During any
interpersonal interaction, the study participants are considering how they look
through the other’s eyes. In the case of people who pray, they are considering
God’s view.
“During prayer,
victims came to see themselves as they believed God saw them,” Sharp says.
“Since these perceptions were mostly positive, it helped raise their senses of
self-worth that counteracted their abusers’ hurtful words.”
Prayer is also a
welcome distraction for some, Sharp’s study found. Simply folding hands and
concentrating on what to say is a reprieve from the anxiety of an abusive
relationship. The experience isn’t that much different from a conversation with
a close friend or a parent, he says.
“I looked at the
act of praying, of speaking to God, as the same as a legitimate social
interaction,” Sharp says. “Instead of a concrete interaction you would have
face-to-face with another person, prayer is with an imagined other.”
That’s not to
diminish God’s role by considering Him an imagined participant in a prayer,
Sharp adds. “On the contrary, I wouldn’t expect prayer to have these benefits
for people if they thought God wasn’t real,” he says. “The important point is
that they believe God is real, and that has consequences for them emotionally
and for their behavior.”
Many of those interviewed by Sharp said they believe
in God, but don’t belong to a specific church. “They still pray,” he says.
“It’s the most common religious practice you can find. For that reason alone it
deserves more attention, and I think future research should consider prayer as
an interaction instead of a one-sided act.”
