Christians less likely than people of other faiths to pray - survey

(Photo: Unsplash/Olivia Snow)

Christians are less likely than people of other faiths to pray, new research by Premier Christian News has found. 

The survey of over 2,000 British adults was carried out by Savanta ComRes on behalf of the broadcaster and found that while over half of people who identified with other faiths said they prayed (52%), this figure fell to 38 per cent among Christians. 

In general, just over a fifth (23%) of British adults said they pray. 

Respondents who lived in London were more likely than other locations to pray (38%), with Scots being the least likely to (14%). 

It may have been splashed all over the news for the last few years, but when asked what they had prayed about in the last 12 months, just one in 10 said Brexit. 

A larger proportion said they had prayed about the Australian wildfires and the London Bridge terrorist attack (both 18%).  Around one in 10 (11%) said they had prayed about the US-Iran conflict. 

But the survey also revealed that people of prayer are a minority in the UK, with almost three in five Brits saying they never pray. 

And despite the popularity of the #prayfor hashtag on social media, only one in seven said they had actually prayed as a result of one of these campaigns. 

Commenting on the findings, Marcus Jones, head of Premier Christian News, said: "It's not particularly surprising to see less and less people are choosing to pray regularly.

"What is interesting is despite many having big concerns about the future of our country and our world, people aren't choosing to respond in prayer."