Pay for Pray? The Value of Thoughts and Prayers

• In Event: 2431 - Religion, Politics, and American Civil Society

Abstract

Politicians and citizens have been criticized in the U.S. for sending people (only) thoughts and prayers in response to natural disasters and mass shootings. However, the value of such gestures to recipients is unknown. In the first study of its kind, we design an experiment entailing real money to elicit people’s monetary value of receiving thoughts and prayers, following a hardship. Christians value thoughts and prayers from Christian strangers and clergy while atheists and agnostics are “prayer averse”—they are willing to pay to avoid receiving a prayer. The polarization of values of thoughts and prayers originates in fundamental differences across religious lines in beliefs of the benefits provided by thought and prayers. Our findings identify the sources of different viewpoints in the heated contemporary debate about the value of thoughts and prayers. They may also explain differences in demand for actions combatting the occurrence of major catastrophes, e.g., natural disasters.

Authors

• Linda Thunström, University of Wyoming

• Shiri Noy, Denison University