ABSTRACT

This chapter presents salient aspects of the form, meaning and use of prayer as described by young people. The prayer lives of young people can tell much about the nature of spirituality as it is understood and lived out in contemporary society how belief relates to practice and what difference spirituality makes to how young people face the world. Alice and Laticia's story is a dramatic one, but it highlights an important topic around the theme of religion and the individual, namely the meaning and place of prayer in young people's lives. Consequently, school assemblies and in some church schools classroom prayers, were two occasions for institutionalised prayer mentioned by the young people. The lack of hostility was partly down to young people's recognition of the Christian identity of the clubs and youth workers, which they were happy to respect in a spirit of tolerance because they enjoyed club and youth workers.