Prayer in Religiously Affiliated and Non-affiliated Adolescents: An Exploratory Study on...

Sarah Demmrich

Prayer in Religiously Affiliated andNon-affiliated Adolescents: An ExploratoryStudy on Socialization, Concept of Prayersand the God Image in East Germany

DOI 10.1515/ijpt-2014-1001

Abstract: East Germany is one of the most non-religious areas in the world.Surprisingly some studies indicate that adolescents from an East German socialbackground without familial religious parenting pray nevertheless. Until now it isunknown in which ways they learn to pray. This interview study draws a compar-ison between religiously affiliated and non-affiliated youths regarding the meth-od of learning, the concept of prayer, and the related God image. N = 11 adoles-cents, n = 6 out of these religiously non-affiliated, were interviewed using a semi-structured guideline. There is the trend that non-affiliated youths search fordifferent agents (e.g. media) and ways of learning (e.g. trial and error). Essentialdifferences in the adoption, the concept of prayers and the image of God arediscussed.

Zusammenfassung: Ostdeutschland ist eines der religionslosesten Gebiete derWelt. Überraschenderweise zeigen einige Studien, dass ostdeutsche Jugendlicheohne religiösen familiären Hintergrund dennoch beten. Bis heute ist nicht be-kannt, auf welche Weise sie das Beten lernen. Diese Interview-Studie vergleichtreligiös-gebundene und konfessionslose Jugendliche bezüglich ihrer Lernmetho-den, ihres Betverhaltens und ihres Gottesbildes. N = 11 Jugendliche, von denenn = 6 konfessionslos waren, wurden anhand eines halb-strukturierten Leitfadensbefragt. Es zeigte sich ein affallender Trend, dass nämlich konfessionsloseJugendliche nach anderen Mitteln (z.B. Medien) und Wegen des Lernens (z.B.trial-and-error) suchen. Grundlegende Unterschiede in der Adaption und demKonzept des Betens sowie dem Gottesbild werden kritisch diskutiert

Sarah Demmrich:Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Franckeplatz 1 / Haus 30,Email: [email protected]

IJPT 2015; 19(1): 40–59

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1 Introduction

Over the last decades it has been shown that children and adolescents withoutfamilial religious parenting pray nevertheless.1 However, the empirical researchignored prayers of individuals without (familial) religious parenting.2 In newstudies from the last decade it was shown that the concept of prayer, the Godimage, and the beliefs of the very same individuals is characterized by a higherflexibility – in comparison to individuals with religious parenting that are influ-enced by ecclesiastical dogmas.3 Profound empirical research concerning theperformance and concept of prayer in religiously non-affiliated, even a compar-ison with children and adolescents that grew up under the same religio-socio-logical conditions but experience religion in their families, failed to surface. Thispaper inserts to this point by examining the ways of learning and concepts ofprayers of adolescents who experienced no explicit familial religious parentingand thus did not come in firm contact with ecclesiastical-dogmatic concepts ofprayer and God. This topic affects in particular the non-religious context of EastGermany in which the (religiously affiliated and non-affiliated) adolescents grewup – a context that does not provide a social plausibility for various religious orspiritual forms.4

1.1 Religious sociological signature of East Germany

East Germany is regarded as by far the most non-religious area in the world. Only8% of East Germans believe in God.5 There is not only a loss of importance of the

1 Cf. Heiner Barz, Postsozialistische Religion. Am Beispiel der jungen Generation in den NeuenBundesländern. Jugend und Religion 3, Opladen (Leske + Budrich) 1993.2 Cf. Klaus Engelhardt / Hermann von Loewenich / Peter Steinacker (eds.), Fremde HeimatKirche. Die dritte EKD-Erhebung über Kirchenmitgliedschaft, Gütersloh (Gütersloher Verlags-haus) 1997.3 Cf. Anna-Katharina Szagun, Dem Sprachlosen Sprache verleihen. Rostocker Langzeitstudie zuGottesverständnis und Gottesbeziehung von Kindern, die in mehrheitlich konfessionslosem Kon-text aufwachsen, Jena (IKS Garamond) 2006.4 Cf. Michael Domsgen (ed.), Konfessionslos – eine religionspädagogische Herausforderung.Studien amBeispiel Ostdeutschlands, Leipzig (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt) 2005.5 Cf. Tom W. Smith, Beliefs about God across time and countries. Report for the InternationalSocial Survey Programme (ISSP) and GESIS, 2012. Unpublished manuscript, University of Chica-go, Chicago, IL. Retrieved October 03, 2013, from http://www.norc.org/PDFs/Beliefs_about_God_Report.pdf.

An Exploratory Study on Socialization 41



http://www.norc.org/PDFs/Beliefs_about_God_Report.pdf

http://www.norc.org/PDFs/Beliefs_about_God_Report.pdf

church recorded but also of religion in general.6 The reasons for this “top posi-tion” are diverse, ranging from the Lutheran reformation, up to the anti-religiouspropaganda of the secular communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) regimeas the most powerful factor.7 Religion was suppressed systematically and success-fully. This way, the religious socialisation of children stopped, especially infamilies. The fundamental transgenerational passing-on processes do not includereligious passing-on anymore.8 Most East German families are not firmly atheisticor “antichristian”, but rather religiously indifferent.9 Children and adolescentsfrom religiously indifferent families are left to their own resources in the religiousfield,10 since neither a positive nor a negative or any other manner of religiousopinion is imparted on them. However, research in this field could reveal traces ofreligiosity for the youngest generation. In this group there seems to exist atendency to make religious-like statements. This rather experimental movementof thought is less a “substantial religious positioning”.11 Yet the youngest genera-tion uses dimensions that are foreign to older generations. This vague openingmanifests on three levels. First, there is a non-confessional intellectual receptive-ness to religious topics.12 The second level points to the belief in an afterlife butwithout any specific religious content.13 The third level concerns the privateprayer. Children and adolescents without familial religious parenting pray never-

6 Cf. Olaf Müller / Gert Pickel / Detlef Pollack, Kirchlichkeit und Religiosität in Ostdeutschland.Muster, Trends, Bestimmungsgründe, in: Michael Domsgen (ed.), Konfessionslos – eine religion-spädagogische Herausforderung. Studien am Beispiel Ostdeutschlands, Leipzig (EvangelischeVerlagsanstalt) 2005, 23–64.7 See Tabea Sporer, Tradierung religiöser Einstellungen in der Familie, Unpublished doctoralthesis, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena 2005.8 Cf. Monika Wohlrab-Sahr, Säkularisierungsprozesse und kulturelle Generationen. Ähnlichkei-ten und Unterschiede zwischen Westdeutschland, Ostdeutschland und den Niederlanden, in:Günter Burkhart / Jürgen Wolf (eds.), Lebenszeiten. Erkundungen zur Soziologie der Generatio-nen, Opladen (Leske + Budrich) 2002, 209–228.9 Cf. Michael Domsgen, Familie und Religion. Grundlage einer religionspädagogischen Theorieder Familie, Leipzig (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt) 2004; Anna-Katharina Szagun / Michael Fie-dler, Religiöse Heimaten. Rostocker Langzeitstudie zu Gottesverständnis und Gottesbeziehungvon Kindern, die in mehrheitlich konfessionslosem Kontext aufwachsen, Jena (IKS Garamond)2008.10 Cf. Karl E. Nipkow, Vorwort, in: Szagun, Dem Sprachlosen (n. 3), 11.11 Monika Wohlrab-Sahr / Uta Karstein / Thomas Schmidt-Lux, Forcierte Säkularität. ReligiöserWandel und Generationsdynamik im Osten, Frankfurt amMain (Campus) 2009.12 Ibid.13 Cf. Monika Wohlrab-Sahr / Uta Karstein / Christine Schaumburg, „Ich würd’ mir das offenlassen“. Agnostische Spiritualität als Annäherung an die „große Transzendenz“ eines Lebensnach dem Tode, in: Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft 13, 2005, 153–174.

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theless.14 The latter point is continued in this paper in detail. Thereby the terms“with familial religious parenting” / “religiously affiliated” and “without familialreligious parenting” / “religiously non-affiliated”, respectively, are used synony-mously.

1.2 Learning prayer

In religious education research it is confirmed that the family is the primary fieldof religious socialization.15 Mothers in particular play the main role in religiousparenting.16 The family is seen as crucial for the access to religion in childhood,such as motivation to engage in religious rituals.17 Families are also responsiblein regulating external religious influences, like religious school lessons, peers,and church services.

One of the most established theories of religious socialization is conceptua-lized by Grom.18 This model can be applied to all levels of religiosity and there-fore to the ritualistic level too. Grom defines the learning of religiosity as “cultur-al patterns of experiences, thought, and behaviors that a person acquires not bytrial and error”.19 The central hypothesis of this theory is that learning religiositytakes place from external forces to internal forces, that is, social learningprocesses encourage individual learning processes. Thereby, individual learningprocesses become more important with higher age. An overview of Grom’s theoryis depicted in image 1. The particular learning processes are described shortlybelow.

14 Cf. Michael Domsgen / Frank M. Lütze, Schülerperspektiven zum Religionsunterricht. Eineempirische Untersuchung in Sachsen-Anhalt, Leipzig (Evangelische Verlagsanstalt) 2010.15 E.g. Domsgen, Familie und Religion (n. 9); Bernhard Grom, Religionspädagogische Psycholo-gie des Kleinkind-, Schul- und Jugendalters, 5edition, Düsseldorf (Patmos) 2000; Bernhard Grom,Religionspsychologie, 3edition, München (Kösel) 2007; Michael E. McCullough / David B. Larson,Prayer, in: William R. Miller (ed.), Integrating spiritual into treatment. Resources for practitioners,Washington, DC (American Psychological Association) 1999, 85–110; Sporer, Tradierung (n. 7).16 E.g. Domsgen / Lütze, Schülerperspektiven (n. 14); Grom, Religionspädagogische Psychologie(n. 15); Bernard Spilka / Ralph W. Hood / Richard Gorsuch, The psychology of religion, 3edition,NewYork (The Guilford Press) 2003.17 Cf. Grom, Religionspädagogische Psychologie (n. 15).18 Cf. Grom, Religionspädagogische Psychologie (n. 15); Grom, Religionspsychologie (n. 15).19 Grom, Religionspsychologie (n. 15), 266 (translated by S.D.).




Figure 1: Social and individual learning processes of religious socialisation.From The psychology of religion (p. 266), by B. Grom (2007), München: Kösel.Translated by S. D. © by Kösel Publisher.

Social learning processes1) Modeling:20 In relation to learning prayers, modeling is examined in the

greatest detail.21 Family members, e.g. parents, act as primary models.22

2) Instruction learning: Instruction can take place in oral or written form and issupposed to encourage existing religious creeds and experiences.

3) External reinforcement and social endorsement: Religiosity has to resistagainst annoying emotions and cognitions by promoting external factorswhich inhibit them. External reinforcement emanates from significant othersin the immediate vicinity, while social reinforcement is mediated by plausi-bility for religious belief and practice in the society as a whole.

Individual learning processes1) Insight learning: Contains the understanding and practice of religious

thought. It is based on the perception of solution principles and causeschanges in behavior.

2) Self-reinforcement: Contains the long-lasting consolidation of religious beliefand practice on the long-termmemory by intrinsic motivation to it.

3) Learning by doing: Religious behavior (e.g. prayer) is not internalized beforethe own performance. It decreases feelings of foreignness to religious beha-vior and consolidates it in long-term memory.

20 See Albert Bandura, Social foundations of thought and action. A social cognitive theory,Engelwood Cliffs (Prentice-Hall) 1986.21 Cf. Domsgen / Lütze, Schülerperspektiven (n. 14); Grom, Religionspädagogische Psychologie(n. 15).22 Cf. Anton A. Bucher / Saskia Montag, Vorbilder. Peinliche Überbautypen oder nach wie vornotwendig? Bericht über aktuelle empirische Untersuchungen, in: Religionspädagogische Bei-träge 40, 1997, 61–81.

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Religious learning in a non-religious context

At the beginning of his theory Grom23 speaks about fundamental factors that are“to be clarified in respect of specific topics” and that this model “is only a sketchfor further researches”.24 This alone has to be adjusted in a non-religious context,in which the primary religious field of socialization is not the family and socialreligious learning processes is not initiated by it. Moreover, neither familialmodeling or familial instruction learning nor external reinforcement by the im-mediate surroundings or plausibility for religion by the society as a whole can beexpected.

It is assumed that children and adolescents without familial religious parent-ing are religiously influenced by non-familial agents of learning. Previous hy-potheses on external agents point to the media.25 Furthermore, it is also possiblethat adolescents learn to pray by completely different ways of learning, such astrial and error. However, Grom excluded this in his definition above. According tohim children and adolescents without religious parenting can develop not morethan magical, that is desire-grounded rituals that are performed only duringsituations of anxiety or strong desires and therefore do not represent “true”religious rituals. In my opinion – especially in a non-religious milieu like EastGermany – it is important that the prayers of adolescents should be takenseriously and their learning processes should be portrayed without criticism orprecluding them from the very beginning. It is also emphasized by Szagun andFiedler26 that the most notably emotionally positive non-familial inputs are ableto contribute to a self-initiated search for religiosity. Presumably the latter isobvious especially in adolescence during increased detachment of the (religiouslyindifferent or atheistic) family.

1.3 The development of prayer during adolescence

There is only little research on the development of prayer during adolescence un-til now.27 It is well-known that the frequency of praying is decreasing heavi-

23 Grom, Religionspädagogische Psychologie (n. 15).24 Grom, Religionspädagogische Psychologie (n. 15), 86 (translated by S. D.).25 Cf. Domsgen, Familie und Religion (n. 9); Sporer, Tradierung (n. 7); Wohlrab-Sahr et al.,Agnostische Spiritualität (n. 13).26 Szagun / Fiedler, Religiöse Heimaten (n. 9).27 Cf. Hans U. Hauenstein, Auf den Spuren des Gebets, Heidelberg (Asanger) 2002; BernardSpilka / Kevin L. Ladd, The psychology of prayer, New York (The Guiford Press) 2012.




ly,28 based on increasing doubts especially on the efficacy of prayers.29 The stagetheories of religious development30 assume a mounting differentiation and com-plexity of the concept of prayer in adolescents. Classical findings of the develop-ment of the prayer concept in childhood address three trends. First, the focus ofprayer shifts, from egoistic to altruistic prayers,31 secondly the meaning of prayersshifts from the external form to an interpersonal dialogue with God32 and third anincreasing religious understanding at the expense of a magical understandingconcerning the efficacy of prayers develops with advancing age.33 A magicalconcept of prayer is characterized by the belief that God intervenes directly on theimmanentworldand in regard to theperson’sdesires. Thereof the religious conceptof prayer is defined by the belief that fulfilment of a person’s own desires dependsonGod’swill,moreover an indirect interventionbyGod is expected.34

These three developmental trends depend strongly on religio-sociologicalfactors,35 like magical tendencies depend on the family’s denomination.36 Never-theless, there are few findings on the concept of prayers in non-religious context.

28 Cf. Ronald Goldman, Religious thinking from childhood to adolescence, London (Rouledge &Kegan Paul) 1964; Werner Fuchs-Heinritz, Religion, in: Deutsche Shell Holding (ed.), Jugend2000. 13. Shell Jugendstudie, Opladen (Leske + Budrich) 2000, 157–180.29 Cf. Grom, Religionspädagogische Psychologie (n. 15); Karl E. Nipkow, Bildungsverständnis imUmbruch. Religionspädagogik im Lebenslauf, 2edition, Gütersloh (Gütersloher Verlagshaus)2007.30 Cf. James Fowler (ed.), Stages of faith and religious development, New York (Crossroad) 1991;Fritz Oser / Paul Gmünder, Der Mensch – Stufen seiner religiösen Entwicklung. Ein struktur-genetischer Ansatz, 2edition, Gütersloh (GerdMohn) 1988.31 Cf. Goldman, Religious thinking (n. 28); Diane Long / David Elkind / Bernard Spilka, Thechild’s concept of prayer, in: Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion 6, 1967, 101–109; Philip R.May, Religious judgements in children and adolescents, in: British Journal of Religion in Educa-tion 16, 1977, 115–122.32 Cf. W. George Scarlett / Lucy Perriello, The development of prayer in adolescence, in: FritzOser / W. George Scarlett (eds.), Religious development in childhood and adolescence SanFrancisco, CA (Jossey-Bass) 1991, 63–77; Spilka / Ladd, The psychology (n. 27); Kalevi Tamminen,Religious development in childhood and adolescence, Helsinki (Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia)1991.33 Cf. Goldman, Religious thinking (n. 28); Oser / Gmünder, Der Mensch (n. 30); Tamminen,Religious development (n. 32); Theophil Thun, Die religiöse Entscheidung der Jugend, Stuttgart(Ernst Klett) 1963; Theophil Thun, Die Religion des Kindes, 2edition, Stuttgart (Ernst Klett) 1964.34 E.g gives power or opportunities; see Grom, Religionspsychologie (n. 15).35 Cf. L. B. Brown, Some attitudes underlying petitionary prayer, in: André Godin (ed.), From cryto word, Brussels (Lumen) 1968, 65–84.36 Cf. André Godin, Some developmental tasks in Christian education, in: Merton P. Strommen(ed.), Research of religious development. A comprehensive handbook, New York (HawthornBooks) 1971, 109–154; Tamminen, Religious development (n. 32).

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The result, that adolescents without familial religious parenting consider prayersprimarily as intensive self reflection in which God plays only a subordinated roleor non at all, and that prayer becomes an intrapersonal dialogue, can be seen asan exception.37 In regard to the age-dependent increase of the religious at the costof the magical concept of prayer, this trend was shown in a sample of religiouslynon-affiliated youths, albeit essentially earlier than for religiously affiliated.38

Finally, it has to be mentioned that personal problems and crisis situations arethe most common occasions of prayers, independent by age and religio-socio-logical factors.39

1.4 The development of the God image during adolescence

Rizzuto40 defines the God image as all individual, emotional aspects attributed toGod. In the research of the development of juvenile images of God, three dichot-omous dimensions crystallized: anthropomorphic versus symbolic God image,felt closeness versus distance of God, positive versus negative God image.

Anthropomorphic versus symbolic God image

A God image is labelled anthropomorphic in particular if manlike features areattributed to God; it is labelled symbolic if God is represented in a non-human,symbolic manner (e.g. as sun, light, clouds). On the whole there is a decrease ofanthropomorphic in favor of a symbolic God image starting at the age of seven inchildren with familial religious parenting. God is represented almost exclusivelyin a symbolic manner at the age of twelve.41 This developmental trend is albeit

37 Cf. Barz, Postsozialistische Religion (n. 1); Jacques Janssen / Josep De Hart / Christine DenDraak, A content analysis of the praying practices of Dutch youth, in: Journal for the ScientificStudy of Religion 29, 1990, 99–107.38 Cf. Szagun, Dem Sprachlosen (n. 3).39 Cf. Domsgen / Lütze, Schülerperspektiven (n. 14); Wolfgang Huber / Johannes Friedrich /Peter Steinacker (eds.), Kirche in der Vielfalt der Lebensbezüge. Die vierte EKD-Erhebung überKirchenmitgliedschaft, Gütersloh (Gütersloher Verlagshaus) 2006; Janssen et al., A content analy-sis (n. 37); Tamminen, Religious development (n. 32).40 Ana-Marie Rizzuto, The birth of the living God. A psychoanalytic study, Chicago (ChicagoUniversity Press) 1979.41 Cf. Helmut Hanisch, Die zeichnerische Entwicklung des Gottesbildes bei Kindern und Jugen-dlichen. Eine empirische Vergleichsuntersuchung mit religiös und nichtreligiös erzogenen Kin-dern und Jugendlichen von 7–16 Jahren, Stuttgart (Calwer) 1996.




influenced by religio-sociological factors: children and adolescents without famil-ial religious parenting feature God mainly in an anthropomorphic manner; sym-bolization either takes place at older ages or fails completely.42 This result iscontrary to the finding of Szagun.43 In her studies, using a very open methodcalled metaphor crafting, children and adolescents without familial religiousparenting create symbolic, undogmatic God images starting at the age of primaryschool.

Closeness versus distance of God

Perceived closeness to and of God declines with increasing age of youths. Mount-ing doubts and frustration are some of the reasons for this. This developmentaltrend depends on religio-sociological factors as well: religiously non-affiliatedyouths perceive God as less close than religiously affiliated. This is probablyfounded in their distanced relation to ecclesial institutions.44

Positive versus negative God image

In particular a God image is labelled positive if a person attributes positiveemotions to God; it is labelled negative if these emotions are negative. Adoles-cents show a more negative God image than children since the strong positiveinfantine God image is undermined by doubts.45 However, this trend is overlaidby religio-sociological factors, too. The changes in (religious) education to astrong liberalism46 convey a very positive concept of God to the adolescent (e.g.God as absolute acceptance and affection) and avoid topics like sin or guilt almosttotally with the result of very positive God images in the youngest generation.47

Beyond that, the (lack of) familial religious parenting has a high influence.Youths without this kind of parenting show a more negative God image thanyouths with familial religious parenting.48

42 Cf. Hanisch, Die zeichnerische Entwicklung (n. 42).43 Szagun, Dem Sprachlosen (n. 3).44 Cf. Hanisch, Die zeichnerische Entwicklung (n. 42); Tamminen, Religious development (n. 32).45 Cf. Hanisch, Die zeichnerische Entwicklung (n. 42); Szagun, Dem Sprachlosen (n. 3); Tammi-nen, Religious development (n. 32).46 Also in religious lessons at school: Tamminen, Religious development (n. 32).47 Cf. Nipkow, Bildungsverständnis (n. 29).48 Cf. Hanisch, Die zeichnerische Entwicklung (n. 42).

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2 Study aims

a) Previous empirical studies indicate that adolescents from an East Germansocial background without familial religious parenting pray nevertheless.49 Up tonow it is unknown by which agents and ways they learn to pray. Therefore, thisstudy asked from who and how the very same youths learn prayers.

b) Initial studies on the concept of youth prayer without familial religiousparenting highlighted a fundamentally different concept than youths with famil-ial religious parenting. Prayers are mainly regarded as intrapersonal dialogues50

by religiously non-affiliated youths and are less magically characterized thanprayers of peers from religious families.51 Accordingly, differences in the conceptof prayer between adolescents with and without familial religious parenting werequestioned in this study.

c) Studies on the God image of East German youths without familial religiousparenting proceeded contrary results. The most controversial point is whether thereligiously non-affiliated stick to an anthropomorphic image of God longer thanreligiously affiliated youths52 or if non-affiliated tend towards symbolic imagesearlier than affiliated peers because of the lack of familial religious influence.53

Relatively consistent is the finding that religiously non-affiliated youths attributemore negative emotions to God54 and perceive God as more distant.55 Conse-quently it was asked in this study if there are differences in the image of Godaccording to three central aspects (positive versus negative, close versus distant,anthropomorphic versus symbolic) between adolescents with and without famil-ial religious parenting.

3 Methodology

Considering the research gap of prayers in youths without familial religiousparenting it was necessary to conduct an exploratory study. The mostly marginalresults of studies in prayer and God images of religiously non-affiliated childrenand adolescents do not allow a deeper insight in the field of interest, because of

49 Cf. Barz, Postsozialistische Religion (n. 1); Domsgen / Lütze, Schülerperspektiven (n. 14).50 Cf. Barz, Postsozialistische Religion (n. 1).51 Cf. Szagun / Fiedler, Religiöse Heimaten (n. 9).52 Cf. Hanisch, Die zeichnerische Entwicklung (n. 42).53 Cf. Szagun, Dem Sprachlosen (n. 3).54 Cf. Hanisch, Die zeichnerische Entwicklung (n. 42).55 Cf. Tamminen, Religious development (n. 32).




their quantitative methodology. As a consequence the concern of the presentedstudy was a qualitative methodical procedure. This was implemented by semi-structured individual interviews. The nature of the study does not allow for thefindings to be generalized, so that the findings are restricted to the participants inthis study.

At the beginning of the interview, adolescents should reconstruct a personalcrisis situation, which are primarily occasions for prayers56 with the help ofpresented stimulus drawings. Since this study was embedded in a bigger investi-gation it was asked which kind of ritual the youths perform in such situations.The total sample consists of N = 23 (n = 7 male) randomly selected adolescentsfrom the 9th grade. In this paper only those subjects will be discussed thatreported prayer according to this question. This sample consists of N = 11 adoles-cents at age 15 (n = 9 female), n = 6 out of these were religiously non-affiliated.Out of n = 5 religiously affiliated youths, n = 2 were Orthodox, n = 2 Protestant,and n = 1 Catholic. Beyond that, the educational level (n = 6 secondary school,n = 5 high school) as well as the attendance of ethics (n = 5) and religious classes(n = 6) were distributed similarly in the sample. The parents of all participantscompleted a consent form before the beginning of the study.

Subsequently it was asked for the socialization and concepts of prayer as wellas for the image of God. The latter was assessed by the so-called drawing inter-view: the subjects should draw their prayer performance and locate God in it(questions: “Could you draw a painting how you pray?”; “What do you thinkwhere is God in your picture?”). Finally, in-depth questions about God were asked(e.g.: “Can you tell me more about your picture please?”, “How do you imagineGod?”, “Is God close or far to you when you pray?”; “Does God respond to yourprayers? How?”). The method of drawing interviews is controversial,57 but therewas no other method at disposal in the frame of single interviews at the time ofsurvey in spring 2012. Only n = 8 God images were drawn because of the abandon-ment of God in adolescence.

The interviews were analyzed according to Mayring’s content analysis.58 Ascategories of analysis, Grom’s ways of learning prayers59 in line with the prayerconcept the three dichotomies magical – religious, egoistic – altruistic, and inter-versus interpersonal dialogue were applied and according to the image of God thethree aspects positive – negative, distanced – close, and symbolic – anthropo-morphic were applied. According to Mayring, three content-analytic strategies

56 E.g Domsgen / Lütze, Schülerperspektiven (n. 14).57 E.g Szagun, Dem Sprachlosen (n. 3).58 PhilippMayring, Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse, 10edition,Weinheim (Beltz) 2008.59 Grom, Religionspädagogische Psychologie (n. 15); Grom, Religionspsychologie (n. 15).

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were combined: the frequency of categories was counted by frequency analysis,the valence of the God image by valence analysis and bottom-up the particularcategories were interrelated by contingency analysis.

4 Results

4.1 Emotional and situational occasions of prayer

Because of the methodical procedure, the occasions of prayer were primarilycrisis situations for religiously affiliated as well as for non-affiliated youths. Thefollowing themes for such crises were reported: Death or sickness of a relative,frustrating experiences and assessment situations, combined with negative emo-tions (such as sadness, anger, fear, and worry). Beyond that adolescents withoutfamilial religious parenting spontaneously reported church visits, combined withpositive emotions (e.g. feeling devotional, quiet) as occasions of prayers. How-ever, there was no preference for any specific occasion or emotion in both groups.

4.2 Socialization of prayer

Adolescents with familial religious parenting reported to learn prayers fromfamilial agents, mainly mothers, through modeling and instruction learning,while external reinforcement and social endorsement are absent. The former iscorrelated with the aspect that prayers were described as highly private and arenot outwardly shown (e.g. “I have never spoken with anybody about this topicbefore”), with the result that external reinforcement is absent. Social endorse-ment is absent, because of the non-religious conditions in East German society asa whole that are perceived as such. According to individual ways of learning mostof the religiously affiliated adolescents reported only learning by doing withoutintrinsic motivation for prayers (lack of self-reinforcement and insight learning, e.g. “I only pray and attend church services to make my mom happy”). Therejection of the infantine faith is involved in the latter process as well (e.g. “WhenI was small I believed in God but now not anymore”, “It is also the question if Ibelieve in the God that is imposed by my church”).

As expected youth without familial religious parenting learn prayers fromnon-familial agents, mainly the media (especially TV media from the US-Amer-ican context, e.g. “I watched the Simpsons”, “You can see this from time to timeon TV […] in some teenager movies when they attend colleges, they pray”).Beyond that, religious and ethics lessons in schools as well as foreigners that




were observed while praying were reported (e.g. “I saw a lot of people in church,they sit there and they pray for themselves”). They learn by modeling as well, butinstructions for prayer are mostly absent. Religiously non-affiliated adolescentsreported social reinforcement, i.e. they are convinced that there exists a plausi-bility for religion and prayer in society as a whole (e.g. reported that they wereinfluenced “from all sides” or that “quite a lot of people” go to church to pray).Nevertheless, external reinforcement is absent for the same reason as for thereligiously affiliated youths: prayer performances are not shown or even commu-nicated outwardly (e.g. “I’m feeling a little bit strange after this interview nowbecause I have never told this to anybody”). According to individual ways oflearning, religiously non-affiliated adolescents reported intrinsic motivation forprayers (e.g. “Prayer is very important to me”, prayers as “appropriate” in crisissituations). Above the narrative of non-familial agents of learning they reportedto try out prayers for themselves that indicates trial and error learning (e.g. “Andthen I simply tried it”).

4.3 Concept of prayer

According to the concept of prayers, it could be shown – for this study thatexamines mainly petitionary prayers in crisis situation – that prayers are moti-vated by a mix of altruistic and egotistic motives (e.g. prayers for good grades, butfor healing of a relative as well). The exterior form of prayers was not emphasizedby any youth. Both groups named doubts about the effectiveness of their prayers.These doubts do not necessarily lead to a reduction of prayer performances.

Youths with familial religious parenting interpret their prayers as interperso-nal dialogue with God. There is the tendency that these youths have a religiousunderstanding of prayers, that is they expect an indirect intervention of God.Adolescents without familial religious parenting interpret their prayers as aninterpersonal dialogue with God, but also as intrapersonal dialogue (e.g. theycannot name a direct recipient of their prayer; emphasize the increase of well-being while praying). There is the tendency that these youths have a magicalunderstanding of prayers, that is, they expect a direct intervention of God accord-ing to their desires.

4.4 The image of God

In spite of the small amount of cases of n = 8 reporting God images, interestingtendencies are clearly evident: God is illustrated and reported positively (e.g.

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great-hearted, benevolent, and forgiving). Nevertheless, demands lead negativecomponents of the God image to appear as well (e.g. God only helps Christians,can be angered by sins, punishes).

Adolescents with familial religious parenting illustrated God symbolically (e.g. as protective hand; as a being that is separated from the world) and perceivedGod as close to themselves, especially during prayers (e.g. God is closer to thembecause they are Christian, “when I pray I think He [God] is very close to me”). Incontrast, adolescents without familial religious parenting illustrated God anthro-pomorphically (e.g. as an old bearded man on a cloud; as wizard; as SantaClause) and perceived God as distanced (e.g. “I think He [God] is really closer toother people”, such as baptized or the Pope, God is “something in the universe”).

4.5 Summarized results

There are fundamental differences in the reception, the concept of prayers, andthe God image between youths with and without familial religious parenting.Religiously affiliated adolescents pray in personal crisis situations that are asso-ciated with negative emotions. They learn prayers by familial agents, mainlymothers, by modeling and instruction learning. But they do not report intrinsicmotivation or insight learning. Prayers are addressed to a symbolic, a closelyperceived and very positive God that is only marginally characterized by negativeaspects. As an interpersonal dialogue with God, prayers are both altruisticallyand egoistically motivated; God’s intervention on the immanent world is regardedas indirect (religious concept of prayer). The results of youths with familialreligious parenting are summarized in table 1.

Table 1: Prayers in religiously affiliated adolescents.

Occasions of prayer Socialization of prayer Concept of prayer God image

Crisis situations Familial agents (mother) Altruistic and egoistic Positive, marginalnegative aspects

Negative affect Modeling, instructionlearning

Religious concept Close

Learning by doing Interpersonal dialogue Symbolic

Youths without familial religious parenting pray in personal crisis situations thatare emotionally negative; although, they reported emotionally positive churchvisits as occasions of prayers. They learn prayers by non-familial agents, mainlyfrom the media, by modeling, and social reinforcement. Also, trial and error




learning plays a non-neglecting role on the autonomous adoption of prayers.Prayers as interpersonal dialogue are addressed to an anthropomorphic, distantand very positive God that is characterized only marginally by negative aspects.In some cases, prayers were reported as intrapersonal dialogue, where God playsa very subordinated or no role. Prayers are motivated altruistically and egoisti-cally in this group, too. In contrast to religiously affiliated adolescents God’sintervention on the immanent world is in this group regarded as direct (magicalconcept of prayer). The results of youths without familial religious parenting aresummarized in table 2.

Table 2: Prayers in religiously non-affiliated adolescents.

Occasions of prayer Socialization of prayer Concept of prayer God image

Crisis situations /church visits

Non-familial agents(media)

Altruistic and egoistic Positive, marginalnegative aspects

Negative /positive affect

Modeling, socialendorsement

Magical concept Distant

Self-reinforcement,learning by doing

Intrapersonal andinterpersonal dialogue

Anthropomorphic

Note. Differences to religiously affiliated youths are displayed underlined.

5 Discussion

5.1 Sample and occasions of prayer

Religiously affiliated and non-affiliated East German adolescents maintain theperformance of prayers at least during emotionally negative crisis situations60

and thus independently from their educational level. Beyond that, adolescentswithout familial religious parenting reported emotionally positive connotedchurch visits as occasions of prayers. This is contrary to Grom’s61 presumptionthat non-affiliated youths pray only as a reaction to strongly negative affects.

Prayers were reported predominantly by girls. This confirms the solid findingof an increased religious susceptibility for females.62 Nevertheless this gendereffect is explicable by the methodology: the study was presented as a study on

60 Cf. Spilka / Ladd, The psychology (n. 27).61 Grom, Religionspädagogische Psychologie (n. 15).62 See Grom, Religionspädagogische Psychologie (n. 15).

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regulating negative emotions; the communicative aspect as well as a femaleinterviewer addressed more girls for participation.

5.2 Agents and ways of learning

In this study it was possible to replicate the very solid finding that religiouslyaffiliated youths learn prayer by familial agents, mainly mothers.63 In contrast,youths without familial religious parenting feel triggered off prayers by non-familial agents, especially the media, but even by religious or ethics classes andforeigners. It is known that there is an omnipresence of religious topics in themedia,64 but at the same time the influence of the media, especially television, asan agent of religious learning is severely underestimated.65

In this study two possible forms of access to prayers were revealed: a cogni-tive-intellectual (such as praying during spiritual tourism like church visits) andan experimental access (like trial and error learning; self-directive search). Theformer confirms the finding that religiously indifferent converge religious beliefstatements by cognitive access.66 The latter is contrary to established religiouspsychological theories: religiosity and religious rituals would not adopt withoutfamilial religious parenting and not by trial and error learning.67 But the findingof the current study is promoted by the result of the experimental movement ofthought (“Denkbewegung”) concerning religiosity in the youngest generation ofEast Germans68 that probably manifests in the ritual field as well. In furtherstudies it should be investigated if prayers, learned under these conditions, resistor extinguish.

Familial and non-familial agents of learning work by modeling. Moreover,familial agents induce more instruction learning whereas non-familial inducemore social reinforcement. The fact that religiously non-affiliated individuals feel

63 E.g. Domsgen, Familie und Religion (n. 9); Domsgen / Lütze, Schülerperspektiven (n. 14);Grom, Religionspädagogische Psychologie (n. 15); Grom, Religionspsychologie (n. 15).64 Cf. Hubert Mohr, Auf der Suche nach der Religionsmedienwissenschaft oder: Wie die audio-visuellen Medien unser heutiges Bild von Religion verändern, in: Richard Faber / Susanne Lan-werd (eds.), Aspekte der Religionswissenschaft, Würzburg (Könighausen & Neumann) 2009, 159–181.65 Cf. Armin Nassehi, Erstaunlich religiöse Kompetenz. Qualitative Ergebnisse des Religionsmo-nitors, in: Bertelsmann Stiftung (ed.), Religionsmonitor 2008, Gütersloh (Gütersloher Verlag-shaus) 2007, 113–132.66 Cf. Wohlrab-Sahr et al., Forcierte Säkularität (n. 11).67 Cf. Grom, Religionspädagogische Psychologie (n. 15); Grom, Religionspsychologie (n. 15).68 Cf. Wohlrab-Sahr et al., Forcierte Säkularität (n. 11).




marginalized or not socially endorsed for their religiosity is explained by thepassing-on processes in the post-socialist time: Being religious in East Germanymeans belonging to a minority and encountering social rejection. The reversedfinding that religiously non-affiliated youths experience more social endorsementis surprising. This could be seen as a methodological problem: it is possible thatthese adolescents reported society as an agent of learning because they do notrecognize any other agents or ways of learning. More probable is that religion isonly a media-mediated issue because television acts as the primary source forprayers and therein religious topics are omnipresent.69 This does not match theconditions of religion in (East German) society. This tendency of a perceived, butmisjudged social endorsement can be interpreted as an expression of the need of(religious) affiliation for the so-called religiously “non-affiliated”.

Youths with familial religious parenting are more influenced by instructionlearning, but are either less or not at all intrinsically motivated, while adolescentswithout familial religious parenting that feel socially endorsed are intrinsicallymotivated to pray. Whether these results are significant must be proven by a moreextensive sample. If so, at least specific instructions for prayer would be self-defeating. Especially familial instructions could be regarded as indoctrination bythe youths and would not be appropriate in adolescence. On the other hand,social endorsement could indicate intrinsic motivation. External reinforcementprocesses are seen generally as primary sources of intrinsic religiosity.70 Remark-ably, both juvenile groups reported external reinforcement only in very little ofthe cases and some of the subjects state that it was the first time that they spokeabout their private prayers. Nowadays prayers, as religiosity in general, belong tothe very intimate sphere of life71 and are not communicated externally with theresult of external reinforcement being absent.

5.3 Concept of prayer

The findings that religiously non-affiliated youths regard their prayers as moreof an intrapersonal than an interpersonal dialogue with God confirm formerresults.72 Prayers are seen mainly as intensive self-reflection for this group where

69 Cf. Mohr, Auf der Suche nach der Religionsmedienwissenschaft (n. 64).70 Cf. Grom, Religionspädagogische Psychologie (n. 15).71 E.g Thomas Luckmann, Privatisierung und Individualisierung. Zur Sozialform der Religion inder spätindustriellen Gesellschaften, in: Karl Gabriel / Hans-Richard Reuter (eds.), Religion undGesellschaft, Paderborn (Schöningh) 1991, 133–148.72 Cf. Barz, Postsozialistische Religion (n. 1); Janssen et al., A content analysis (n. 37).

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God plays a subordinated role. According to the egoistic – altruistic dimension,it was shown that there are no differences between religiously affiliated andnon-affiliated adolescence. Most often egoistic and altruistic prayers were re-ported compositely. In the current study this category cannot mark differencesin the concept of prayer. It is also contrary to the finding that egoistic prayersdecrease in favour of egoistic prayers with advancing age during childhood.73

This result can also be explained by the methodology of this study, becauseprayers in crisis situations are grounded more on egoistic than altruistic mo-tives.74

Considering the magical – religious concept of prayer dimension, it wasfound that adolescents without familial religious parenting tend to display moremagical concepts, i.e. they expect a direct intervention by God on the immanentworld according to their personal desires. In contrast, adolescents with familialreligious parenting tend to a more religious concept, i.e. they expect an indirectintervention by God on the immanent world (gives love, feeling of security, etc.).Godin75 and Tamminen76 could previously show that there is no linear declineof the magical prayer concept, since many adults report such a concept. Similarlyit depends on religio-sociological factors such as the affiliation to a specificdenomination.77 This can be extended to non-affiliation and is contrary to theresults by Szagun and Fiedler.78 Yet these authors acknowledge that some of thechildren and adolescents without familial religious parenting of their sampleshow a desire-grounded, magical concept of prayer. This is explained by theso-called religious “cultural wallpaper”79 that these youths bring along, e.g.from religious grandparents. In my opinion almost all East German adolescentsbring this wallpaper along, because youths do not grow up in a religious vacuumbut are confronted with cultural elements of Christianity even in non-religiousmilieus.

Furthermore, a highly ambivalent concept of prayer of adolescents withoutfamilial religious parenting is conspicuous, i.e. prayer is viewed as intrapersonaldialogue, but God has to intervene directly at the same time. This finding isdiscussed by Szagun and Fiedler80 in the frame of the synthetic-conventional

73 Cf. Goldman, Religious thinking (n. 28); May, Religious judgements (n. 31).74 Cf. Grom, Religionspädagogische Psychologie (n. 15).75 Godin, Some developmental tasks (n. 36).76 Tamminen, Religious development (n. 32).77 Cf. Brown, Some attitudes (n. 35).78 Szagun / Fiedler, Religiöse Heimaten (n. 9).79 Szagun / Fiedler, Religiöse Heimaten (n. 9), 361 (translated by S. D.).80 Szagun / Fiedler, Religiöse Heimaten (n. 9).




stage of faith,81 that youths without familial religious parenting show partiallythrough all ages. This can occur only partially because there is only little or noadoption of conventions by significant others. But it is synthetic because it iscomposed of particular ideas without logical stringency. In my opinion thisfinding of a highly ambivalent concept of prayer is less a “mature” faith,82 butrather the result of lacking religious socialisation.

5.4 Image of God of prayer

God is presented positively through all drawing and interviews. Negative aspectsof God (e.g. God punishes, is angry) were reported only on demand. This repli-cates the finding that the youngest generation grows up with an almost exclu-sively positive God image.83 There are no differences between adolescent with andwithout familial religious parenting. That is inconsistent with the result of a morenegative God image in non-affiliated by Hanisch84 and can potentially be ex-plained with the small sample size of this study.

Moreover, a solid finding of the research in the image of God could bereplicated: Religiously non-affiliated youths stick to an anthropomorphic Godimage longer than religiously affiliated, who image God in a more symbolicmanner.85 Even 16 years after Hanisch’s study, very similar images were shown inthe current study: God as a bearded man on a cloud, as a wizard, as Santa Claus.The results of symbolic, undogmatic God image in non-affiliated youths by Sza-gun86 could not be confirmed in the current study. If the results for prayers wouldbe analyzed separately, it could be assumed that the drawing interview is morestrongly structured than Szagun’s method of metaphor crafting and provokesanthropomorphic images downright. As quoted earlier, this study is a part of amore comprehensive study in which adolescents could report other superhumanpowers as well (e.g. luck, decedents). These other superhuman powers arereported almost exclusively by religious non-affiliated adolescents and are sym-bolically imaged throughout. Additionally, these images are very similar to theGod images of religiously affiliated adolescents (e.g. symbol of clouds, cross,sun). The explanation that an anthropomorphic God image is a result of lacking

81 Cf. Fowler, Stages of faith (n. 30).82 Cf. Szagun, Dem Sprachlosen (n. 3)83 Cf. Nipkow, Bildungsverständnis (n. 29).84 Hanisch, Die zeichnerische Entwicklung (n. 42).85 Ibid.86 Szagun, Dem Sprachlosen (n. 3); Szagun / Fiedler, Religiöse Heimaten (n. 9).

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familial communication about God87 cannot explain this result sufficiently, sincethere is no communication about luck as a superhuman power in families. Theinfluences of the society as a whole seems to be crucial: Adolescents withoutfamilial religious parenting are primarily influenced by anthropomorphic imagesof God, for example, church art or visual media that are at the same time theirmain sources for God and prayers.

Adolescents without familial religious parenting perceive God as more distantthan youths with religious parenting. This can be interpreted as an expression oftheir felt and real distance to ecclesiastical milieu.88 This distance to Christianityand church is often expressed in terms like “not baptized”, “praying rarely” and“attend church services very rarely”. In contrast adolescents with familial reli-gious parenting experience God closer while praying and seem to use prayers toactivate these feelings of closeness.89 However, there is a gender bias in thecurrent sample and girls in general report more closeness to God.90 If there is adecrease of the felt closeness to God from childhood to adolescent,91 this couldnot be shown in this exclusively juvenile sample.

6 Conclusion

In general, the current results confirm the assumption that adolescents withoutfamilial religious parenting search and find distinct agents and ways of learningto pray. The image of God and especially the concept of prayer are not as simpleas expected for this group. Beyond that, it could be shown that religious psycho-logical models and empirical results – based on (highly) religious subjects –cannot be applied unquestionably to non-religious milieus. In further studies amore culturally sensitive means of testing is necessary. Such studies on function-alities of prayers or other religious psychological concepts seem to be highlypromising, since religious non-affiliation is not a phenomenon restricted to EastGermany.92.

87 Cf. Sandra Eckerle, Gottesbild und religiöse Sozialisation im Vorschulalter. Eine empirischeUntersuchung zur religiösen Sozialisation von Kindern, in: Anton A. Bucher / Gerhard Büttner /Petra Freudenberg-Lötz / Martin Schreiner (eds.), „Mittendrin ist Gott“. Kinder denken nach überGott, Leben und Tod, Stuttgart (Calwer) 2002, 57–68.88 Cf. Hanisch, Die zeichnerische Entwicklung (n. 42).89 Conform to Scarlett / Perriello, The development of prayer (n. 32).90 Cf. Tamminen, Religious development (n. 32).91 Ibid.92 Cf. Stephen Bullivant / Michael Ruse, (eds.), The Oxford handbook of atheism, London(Oxford University Press) 2013; Smith, Beliefs about God (n. 5).




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