ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the phenomenon of prayer in contemporary American life. It describes the religious poetry as a predictor variable and attempts to replicate the American findings in other nations. Prayer represents a human relationship, perhaps even an intimate human relationship, to the tran scendent. Frequent prayer therefore seems to be pragmatic not only for the one who prays but for those to whom the one who prays relates, if only atittudinally in the matter of the death penalty and AIDS victims. One's religious images and the intensity of one's relationship to God in prayer may be considered as experiential religion. The "Vietnam" cohort seems to be marginally less religious than either its predecessors or successors and not the harbinger of long-term social change. The image one has of God, which may be taken as a narrative symbol that expresses religious belief metaphorically, reinforces the impact of prayer on marital happiness.
