“How can you pray for someone you don’t know?”

The question was asked candidly, without rancor, and with genuine interest. The person asking the question was seriously ill and I was the chaplain assigned to the floor of the hospital where she was being treated. I had not even offered prayer; I had simply introduced myself and explained that I was a chaplain. Her question brought me up short.

The recent Pew religion poll found that more than half of all Americans report praying regularly. The number is impressive, but it leaves me wanting to know so much more. I wonder what and for whom people pray, what they even mean by prayer, what they understand to be happening when they pray, how it feels to them. Religion in America is a little like sex: media portrayals of other people’s spiritual practices can seem calculated to shock or offend (preachers damning our country from…