While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions of people all over the world to quarantine in their homes, most Americans have found comfort in tv rather than in God, a new survey has found.
The survey was carried out by Pew Research Center between July 13th and July 19th to cast light on how the coronavirus has impacted how Americans pray.
89% of the respondents said that they were watching tv daily or weekly, while 55% stated that they were praying at least weekly.
The survey also found that 84% were spending time outdoors, and 70% were talking to friends and family on the phone or by using video calls.
89% of Americans had watched tv daily or weekly during the pandemic. Photo: Getty
Scripture, meditation and yoga
The survey yielded a lot of insight into Americans’ everyday lives during the pandemic and also showed that 29% were reading Scripture, 26% were meditating and 8% were doing yoga at least once a week.
According to Pew Research Center’s survey, the group of people who most often found comfort in prayer, Scripture reading and meditation were members of Black Protestant churches followed by evangelical Protestants.
8% found comfort in weekly yoga sessions.
Good deeds
Though Americans have been turning to tv to a greater extent than to God, they have been doing good deeds, like the Bible prescribes.
39% said that they had helped a friend or neighbor by buying groceries for them, running errands or helping with childcare.
29% reported that they had volunteered or made a donation through an organization.
The amount of money that Americans have given to their worship houses seems to be the same as before the pandemic, with 54% of the people who regularly attend services saying that they gave the same
18% were giving less, and 8% were giving more.
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome is the founder and leader of Christ Embassy.
Helping people in need
Among the ones helping people in need, could be members of Christ Embassy – a congregation led by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome. Though being headquartered in Nigeria, the ministry has followers all over the world, especially in the US, the UK, South Africa and Canada.
Throughout the pandemic, the pastor and his congregation has been helping people and ministers in dire need by donating food relief packages. The packages contained food, Christ Embassy books and other necessities and have been distributed to thousands of people across the globe.
Pastor Chris has also been leading prayer weeks since March, and the next one is set to begin on Monday, August 17th.
His prayer weeks kicked off after an extremely successful Global Day of Prayer, which he hosted with Pastor Benny Hinn. 3 billion people tuned in to watch the online broadcast.
Since then, Chris Oyakhilome has initiated several other Global Days of Prayer.