Christians are well represented among Americans who meditate at least once a week, according to data from the Pew Research Center.
The figures show that 40 per cent of Americans say they meditate at least once a week. And while they reveal practitioners of Eastern religions are strongly represented in this figure – 66 per cent of Buddhists say they meditate at least weekly and 33 per cent of Hindus, they also show that it’s a practice many Christians also engage in.
Among Christians, 55 per cent of historically black Protestants, 49 per cent of evangelical Protestants, 40 per cent of Catholics and 36 per cent of mainline Protestants say they meditate at least weekly.
Among other religious groups, 77 per cent Jehovah’s Witnesses and 60 per cent of Mormons said they meditated at least weekly while some 26 per cent of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated – including atheists, agnostics and those who describe themselve as “nothing in particular” – said they did so.
Pew, which notes that some Christians may consider meditation a form of prayer, says that the practice of meditation among Christian groups dates back to the time of the ‘Desert Fathers’ – when monks and nuns sought God in the solitude of the Egyptian wilderness in the first centuries after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
It says various Christian traditions still encourage the practice as a means of getting closer to God (a reason which contrasts with Eastern-style religions which generally use meditation to clear the mind).
