Kathleen Horning- What is the right way to pray?

Kathleen Horning- What is the right way to pray?
Topic: The Phenomenology of Prayer 
Sept. 3, 2015
          
           The Introduction of The Phenomenology of Prayer emphasizes the significance of prayer, whether one is religious or not. A quote on page three stood out to me: “On the one hand, prayer is often personal and private. As such, it would seem to be an act of inner I that cannot fully be disclosed. Moreover, should anyone have access to something that takes place between God and me?”

            Last semester, I took a government class called Religion and Politics in the United States, a course that focused heavily issues that affected both religious and state affairs. One of the assignments for the class was to research different Supreme Court cases relating to the topic. One example was Wallace v. Jaffree, in which an Alabama law authorized public school teachers to conduct school prayer and other religious services and activities during the school day. The petitioner argued that this violated the Establishment Clause of the first amendment, while the respondent argued that it had a primary secular purpose for meditation. The petitioner did not want there to be an entanglement of church and state, but in my opinion, that is not the underlying issue. If prayer should be a private and personal conversation with God, this can be difficult to achieve when surrounded by the pressures of those advocating and those arguing against public school prayer. Does that mean someone should not pray while in school, or in any other public place? Should that person wait to pray with others until he or she is at church? Many questions can be raised about this issue.

            Personally, if I want to have a private and personal conversation with God, I would pray at a time and place where I felt I was secluded and had a quiet environment. That is just my personal preference. This could be in the privacy of my home, or during downtime in the Trible Library. Merold Westphal’s chapter in Phenomenology states the significance of silence during prayer: “Prayer needs silence, not only external but internal silence; for our minds and hearts can be and usually are very noisy places even when we emit no audible sound” (p. 20). Others may be more vocal and may want to pray with others, which I understand, but it may be more difficult to focus on one’s self. Not all people who pray are religious, so perhaps it is viewed as more of a practice for meditation.