
- On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic and directly after this, the level of prayer searches in March 2020 was 50% higher than in February 2020.

Statistics for research on prayer: In Crisis we Pray 

When the Pandemic hit March 2020, countries all around the world made sure to create specific guidelines to ensure social distancing. Bentzen states that it is Blue Collar workers, (workers that provide small manual labor) were the more religious ones as they had more time on their hands. Perhaps people searched out of boredom. But this does not equal the causation. Bentzen concludes that it is because of the stress and anxiety people have faced during the pandemic have allowed people to turn to prayer to calm themselves and search for resolutions. Bentzen states that its hard to conclude why there has been an increase, and there are only assumptions that are created at this time. 

Lockdowns and Religiosity

According to the WHO (World Health Organization) we pray in times of crisis. Becuase of the world wide emergency, churches all over the world have shut down to stop the spread of COVID-19. This causes a major issue, as people have felt that Sunday services could not be fulfilled, and it was hard to do religious coping without the services that were provided before the pandemic.
         - People use private prayer in order to further enhance their connection with God. 

Rutgers University

- In the introduction, Bentzen proposes that people pray to help them with coping. This idea is highlighted on page 4, where she talks about the idea of prayer, and how it helps people cope with adversity. People pray for "relief" for their loved ones, or if they are struggling with cancer, etc. Adversity is also used in the "form of Natural disasters" (Bentzen, 4) where the people that are affected turn to religion for coping. 


Why do people pray? (In Crisis we Pray, Introduction) 

Bentzen, Jeanet, In Crisis, We Pray: Religiosity and the COVID-19 Pandemic (May 2020). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP14824, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3615587

In Crisis We Pray: Religiousity and the COVID-19 Pandemic 

In the COVID-19 Pandemic

This is the google search for prayer before the COVID-19 Pandemic- this shows results from the past four years. 

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