Saying grace

Religion journalist Sarah Pulliam Bailey writes about the phenomenon, interviewing a number of different people about why they pray.  An atheist, for example, says that he feels that it is important to express some kind of gratitude.  (But to whom?)

She also cites the Lutheran table prayer, “Come, Lord Jesus. . . .”

From Sarah Pulliam Bailey, When it comes to saying grace, Americans are still united – The Washington Post:

A new poll by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that saying grace is a widespread practice in the United States. About half of all Americans take a minute to say a prayer over their food at least a few times a week, the poll reveals, making grace an unusual commonality in a politically divided nation.

Rural and urban Americans are equally likely to say grace, the poll shows. Northerners and Southerners, Catholics and Protestants, Democrats and Republicans, all say grace to varying degrees. Even some Americans who reject organized religion still say grace. . . .

In the Post-Kaiser poll, which was conducted April 13 to May 1 among a random sample of 1,686 American adults, 48 percent say they give blessings to God or say grace before meals at least a few times each week. Slim 51 percent majorities say grace in both rural and urban America; in the suburbs, 45 percent say grace regularly.

There’s a larger partisan split: 62 percent of Republicans say grace at least a few times a week, compared with 43 percent of Democrats and 41 percent of independents.

There’s a religious split, as well: Six in 10 Protestants say grace a few times a week or more, as do 52 percent of Catholics. But the practice is far more prevalent among black Protestants (80 percent) and white evangelical Protestants (74 percent) than among white mainline or nonevangelical Protestants, 31 percent of whom report saying grace frequently before meals.

Overall, about 8 in 10 blacks, about 6 in 10 Hispanics and about 4 in 10 whites say grace at least a few times each week. . . .

Many people say they started saying grace once they had children, as a way of teaching them to pray. While 40 percent of Americans younger than 35 say grace, at least half of all older age groups say grace regularly.

When it comes to income, 51 percent of those in households making $50,000 or less annually say grace at least a few times a week, compared with 44 percent of those making more than $50,000. (The margin of sampling error for the overall results in the Post-Kaiser poll is plus or minus four percentage points.)

[Keep reading. . .]

Photograph, “The Wayne Gipson Family Says a Prayer before Their Evening Meal,” by Corn, Jack, 1929-, Photographer (NARA record: 8464440) (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons