Study: Droves of Americans are turning to prayer in the face of COVID-19 fear and uncertainty

A new report says that more than half of Americans are praying that COVID-19 will quickly come to an end.

What are the details?

The new poll from the Pew Research Center reports that more Americans are turning to prayer to fight the coronavirus outbreak.

"The virus also has impacted Americans' religious behaviors," the poll notes. "More than half of all U.S. adults (55%) say they have prayed for an end to the spread of coronavirus. Large majorities of Americans who pray daily (86%) and of U.S. Christians (73%) have taken to prayer during the outbreak — but so have some who say they seldom or never pray, and people who say they do not belong to any religion (15% and 24%, respectively)."

The poll reports that 82% of evangelicals have prayed for an end to the COVID-19 outbreak — which is unsurprising, but 26% of religious "nones" — or "nothing in particular" — self-report that they, too, have been turning to prayer as a means to end COVID-19. The poll also reports that at least 15% of people who say they seldom to never pray are also praying for an end to the deadly pandemic.

At least 40% of Americans who say they attend church on a monthly basis now say that they have been virtually attending worship services online or via television on a regular basis.

To note, the poll finds that "Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say their personal life has changed in a major way as a result of the coronavirus outbreak: About half of Democrats and Democratic leaners (51%) say this, compared with 38% of Republicans and those who lean to the GOP."

The survey, taken by 11,537 Americans, was conducted between March 19-24.

You can read the poll's full findings here.

What else?

As pointed out by the Washington Examiner, nearly half of the United States believes that the COVID-19 outbreak is a "wake-up call" from God.

A new national survey for The Joshua Fund — which was conducted by McLaughlin & Associates — says that 44% of people polled believe that the virus should encourage people to "turn back to faith in God."

Further, 29% of people surveyed said they believe that the coronavirus pandemic indicates that humans are living in "the 'last days.'"

The poll notes that of all people surveyed, 30% of Jewish Americans, 30% of Democrats, 39% of Republicans, 40% of African Americans, and 50% of Hispanics believe that the COVID-19 outbreak is indicative of the end of days.

In a statement, Joshua Fund founder Joel C. Rosenberg says, "Americans in near full lockdown are anxious, and understandably so. Yet millions are turning to God, the Bible, and Christian sermons for answers, some of them for the first time. That may be the most important silver lining in this crisis so far."

McLaughlin & Associates conducted the survey from March 23-26 on 1,000 likely American voters.