{"id":5628,"date":"2023-02-08T13:29:08","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T18:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=5628"},"modified":"2023-02-08T13:29:08","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T18:29:08","slug":"two-thirds-of-americans-support-calls-to-prayer-during-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2023\/02\/two-thirds-of-americans-support-calls-to-prayer-during-tragedy.html","title":{"rendered":"Two Thirds of Americans Support Calls to Prayer During Tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the wake of Damar Hamlin\u2019s Monday Night Football\u00a0<\/span>collapse<\/span><\/a>, a new\u00a0<\/span>poll<\/span><\/a>\u00a0shows that Americans support public prayer. The poll was conducted by Summit Ministries, polling 1000 likely voters during January 19-23. The poll posed the question, \u201cIn light of the public outpouring of prayer for NFL player Damar Hamlin, do you believe that public calls for prayer after a national tragedy are helpful or pointless?\u201d Sixty-seven percent of respondents stated that they found public calls helpful, 20 percent said pointless, and 13 percent either didn\u2019t know or refused to answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conservatives were the highest group to say public prayer was helpful, with 80 percent stating so. Fifty-nine percent of liberals stated public prayer was helpful, while they were the group with the highest share that believe it was pointless at 30 percent. Women found public calls to prayer more helpful than men (71 percent vs. 63 percent), while married individuals found it more helpful than single individuals (69 percent vs. 62 percent). Broken down by age, older Americans found public prayer more helpful, with 77 percent of those over 65 stating it was worthwhile. Only 55 percent of Americans in the 18-29 range found it helpful.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The poll is far removed to some of the\u00a0<\/span>cynicism<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u201cthoughts and prayers\u201d has faced in the last few years. In the wake of the mass shooting at Parkland school, the idea of \u201cthoughts and prayers\u201d was met with derision by those who felt it was just another phrase meant to continue inaction against violence. At times, politicians who used it were derided for being thoughtless or part of the problem. \u201cThe phrase has gone from sincere to funny, but not in a ha-ha way. It is political commentary,\u201d wrote AJ Willingham for CNN.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet Jeff Myers, president of Summit Ministries, summed up the latest poll findings positively. \u201cIn times of crisis, Americans are still likely to come together even in spite of their partisan differences. The fact that people want to pray together, I think, is one of those … increasingly rare moments of unity. If it happens around prayer, all the better.\u201d Social media was\u00a0<\/span>flooded<\/span><\/a>\u00a0with calls to prayer after Hamlin collapsed on the field. Both the Bills and Bengals prayed on the field for Hamlin\u2019s recovery, and Bills fans even held a prayer vigil outside the stadium.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Writing an\u00a0<\/span>op-ed<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0<\/span>USA Today<\/span><\/em>, Daniel Darling, director of The Land Center for Cultural Engagement, reflected on what America\u2019s turn to prayer during the NFL tragedy meant. \u201cIn a supposedly secularizing nation, our true instincts emerge in times of crisis,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWe appeal to something outside of ourselves, to a power beyond us, to save us. Our greatest stories tell this same tale, from superhero movies to our interest in the paranormal. We know there is a world beyond this world. Christianity tells us that not only is this true but that we seek something bigger than ourselves because we are made to worship. C.S. Lewis, a one-time skeptic turned believer, said that we know we were \u2018made for another world.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the wake of Damar Hamlin\u2019s Monday Night Football\u00a0collapse, a new\u00a0poll\u00a0shows that Americans support public prayer. The poll was conducted by Summit Ministries, polling 1000 likely voters during January 19-23. The poll posed the question, \u201cIn light of the public outpouring of prayer for NFL player Damar Hamlin, do you believe that public calls for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":5631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTwo Thirds of Americans Support Calls to Prayer During Tragedy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a recent study conducted after Damar Hamlin's collapse during Monday Night Football, two thirds of Americans say that public prayer is helpful in the time of tragedy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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