Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

People Who Say They Aren’t Religious Still Pray — And Think God Hears Them

Just over half of all adults in the United Kingdom pray, even those who say they’re not religious, a new poll shows.

One in five adults who say they’re not religious still pray — and half of those say they think God hears their prayers.

A poll done by Christian aid agency, Tearfund, found that personal crisis or tragedy is the most common reason for praying among non-believers. Half of those who pray believe “God hears their prayers,” according to a Guardian report.

“Personal crisis or tragedy” is the most common reason for praying, with one in four saying they pray “to gain comfort or feel less lonely,” according to the Guardian.

Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren

We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.

With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.

—  Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief 

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.