A new report has found that worldwide google searches for “prayer” soared to a new all-time high when World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus a pandemic on March 11.
Titled “In Crisis, We Pray: Religiosity and the COVID-19 Pandemic,” the report published 30 March, 2020 analyzed internet searches for prayer in 75 countries, and observed that “search intensity for prayer doubles for every 80,000 new registered cases of COVID-19.”
“I find that the intensified searches on prayer during the COVID-19 pandemic is global: It occurs on all continents and for Christians and Muslims. Even Denmark, one of the least religious countries in the world sees systematic increases in internet searches on prayer,” Jeanet Bentzen, the author of the report and an economist at the University of Copenhagen, said.
“The surge mainly coincides with increases in the registered cases of the COVID-19 rather than surges in death rates. Prayer intensity also rises in countries that have only recently been hit by the pandemic themselves,” she added.
Which comparative Google search data, Bentzen concluded that the pandemic is encouraging internet searches for prayer, more than all other major religious events that otherwise instigate intensified demand for prayer, such as Christmas, Easter, and Ramadan.
The increase in searches for prayer is likely the result of many factors, Bentzen stated, noting that many countries declared lockdowns or encouraged social distancing in mid-March, which led to churches moving their services online.
“A factor pulling in the opposite direction is that the COVID-19 resulted in temporary church closures, to limit infection rates,” she said. “Thus, part of the intensified searches for prayer may cover a move from prayer in the public to prayer in the private.”
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