In advance of the National Day of Prayer, Radiant—a faith-based organization dedicated to creating a positive place for faith in modern society—sought to field a survey that would equip them with colorful, salient, and engaging data points about the relationship of the US general public to prayer. The goal of the project was to generate findings that would differ from more conventional polling on the topic of religion that institutions typically conduct, in order to uncover and elevate new ways of thinking about prayer and its impact on the everyday lives of Americans.
The research consisted of a national quantitative survey fielded amongst U.S. adults aged 18-64 with a particular focus on younger Americans. Survey topics included general attitudes on the role of prayer in life, the alternative language people use to describe their practices, together with some light-hearted questions on topics like the spiritual dimensions of Star Wars and other pop culture adjacent themes.
The research provided a wealth of takeaways related to spiritual practice across all demographics, including both respondents who define themselves as religious and those who consider themselves non-religious. Key findings included interesting anecdotes on when, where, how often, and for how long prayer typically takes place; how Americans define spirituality and the emotional payoff of prayer; and the noticeable trend towards (re)connecting with a higher power that took place during the COVID pandemic. Takeaways were translated by Radiant’s creative team into a compelling set of data visualizations that formed the basis of a heavily promoted social media campaign. The campaign continued for more than a year and helped to stimulate a national conversation on the state of prayer in the United States.