Prayer still seduces many believers, and even some non-believers, despite the growing secularization of our society. While the social sciences are struggling to develop a precise definition, practitioners find there a way to escape modern frenzy.
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Each morning, upon waking, Wenyu, pray. She repeats this ritual before bed. “I pray for myself, for my family or my friends. I also prayed a lot at the time of the declaration of the war in Ukraine”, confesses this Protestant violin teacher.
Praying is often experienced as an intimate moment, which is practiced alone and often takes place in domestic space, the room for example. “In the morning, I wash my face, then I start my prayer. I think it’s healthier than throwing yourself on my phone and being in a kind of modern frenzy. Pray allows me to come back slowly in the aware world and its injunctions, “says Sarah Jamai, a Muslim who lives in Courbevoie.
Prayer can however also be recited, mentally or in a low voice, in public places. “I pray at home most of the time, but I also happen to do it in the metro,” says Xavier Acart, editor -in -chief of the Catholic Revue Pray and author of a book on “Art” to pray (The art of prayer. 50 methods proven to experience God, Ed. Emmanuel, 480 pages, 24 euros).
Some rely on sacred texts, rosaries or icons. Others do it spontaneously. “I sometimes speak to God directly. Sometimes I yell at him. When I pray, I express myself in a much more familiar way than in real life”, jokes Evelyne Sablé, retired from Catholic confession.
pray, with or without religion
How to define prayer? This is often associated with a religion. In most cults, it is even central. Didn’t Jesus himself pray, according to the story of the Gospels? “So here is how you should pray,” he explains before revealing the “our father” (Matthew 6, 9-13). The Talmud also defines it as a biblical command, and prayer is one of the five pillars of Islam, having to be practiced five times a day by Muslims.
Some non-believers also use it. Art therapist, Simon Lucas developed his own approach to non-religious prayer, from which he pulled a book (natural prayer, Librinova, 2021). “Every morning, I pray between half an hour and an hour. I also do it to do it before bedtime if my day was not too difficult. It’s a sacred moment for me, a lot of things My life is playing there, “explains the young man.
If the figures in this area are rare, Simon Lucas does not seem to be an isolated case. In 2007, A tns-sofres survey indicated that about one French in two” pray or medite “. Still according to this survey, 18 % of those who pray do not address their prayer “to anyone in particular”, neither God (x), nor saint (s), nor precise figure (+ 3 points compared to 2001), a proportion who dubbed (36 %) among 18-24 year olds.
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