The surprising link between political strategy and health policies
Big Spring, a South Piegan Blackfoot chief, raises his arms in prayer to the sun in the 1880s.
Sufism is mysticism in Islam. Some Sufis whirl when praying or meditating.
A Quaker prayer meeting in France in the mid-1700s. Quakers are members of a group with Christian roots that began in England in the 1650s.
A 1950s congregation of devout men, women, and children sitting together in church pews with heads bowed in prayer.
Orthodox Jews praying at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel. The wall, also known as the Wailing Wall, is the holiest site in Judaism.
Buddhist monks and worshippers gather at the tooth sanctuary in Sri for the exposition ceremony of the relic of the tooth of Buddha.
Two well-dressed children attend church in the 1960s and pray together.
Hindus say prayers next to the holy River Ganges in Varanasi, India.
A Sikh devotee in prayer and meditation at the Golden Temple (in Amritsar, India), Sikhism's holiest of places.
A Japanese pilgrim pictured in the 1930s carrying his church on his back to pray when he need to. Religion in Japan manifests primarily in Shinto and in Buddhism, the two main faiths.
An American family in the 1950s saying grace before a Thanksgiving meal.
Zoroastrian worshippers pray at the ancient mountain temple of Chakchak in a deserted area some 100 km (62 mi) north of the Iranian city of Yazd.
A priest of the Congregation of the Holy Cross leads a Catholic family in prayer at a mining village in County Durham, England, in the early 1950s.
A 1st-century BCE relief depicting a lamentation over a deceased woman lying on a bed, with four candelabra, two mourners, a woman crowning her, a flutist, and some figures in prayer. From the richly decorated tomb of the Haterii excavated in Centocelle in Rome.
Relief depicting Akhenaton and his family worshipping Aten, the disc of the sun and originally an aspect of Ra, the sun god in traditional ancient Egyptian religion.
Religious Jews descended from the biblical priestly caste cover themselves with prayer shawls as they perform the priestly blessing during Passover festivities at the Western Wall in Old Jerusalem.
An Indian Muslim devotee offers prayers during Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice, which marks the end of the Haj, at Jama Masjid in New Delhi, India.
This scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman Invasion of England in 1066 depicts King William I sitting down to a banquet with his nobles and Bishop Odo saying grace. A grace is a short prayer or thankful phrase said before or after eating.
A young Marine holds a rosary during a moment of quiet and solitude to offer up a prayer for the safety of himself and his comrades in Korea in 1951. There has been no formal treaty ending the 1950-53 Korean War, meaning North Korea and its ally China have technically been at war with US-led forces and South Korea for more than seven decades.
An engraving depicting General George Washington kneeling in prayer while his soldiers camp in the background at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, during the winter of 1777. To the left, partially hidden in the woods, is the Quaker Isaac Potts, who purportedly witnessed Washington's prayer.
A Muslim devotee heeds the call to prayer issued by the muezzin from a mosque. A muezzin is the person who proclaims the call to the daily prayer five times a day, which is traditionally broadcast from the top of a minaret.
A Muslim devotee prays in front of the pyramids of Giza outside Cairo, in Egypt.
Women pictured in 2018 offering prayers at the Balukhali refugee camp in Bangladesh's Ukhia district. It is known as the "widow's camp"—a sanctuary off limits to men inside the country's congested refugee settlements where Rohingya women and children traumatized by violence find rare moments of peace. The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority in Myanmar's Rakhine State, thought to number about one million people.
Sources: (World Population Review) (History) (British Museum) (Britannica) (National Geographic) (CNN)
What remains of the once beautiful cathedral at Livorno in Italy pictured in 1947. A casualty of the heavy fighting that took place three years earlier, the shattered building still provides sanctuary for these two worshippers.
Youngsters pictured in 1963 at Laxton Junior School in Peterborough, England, joining their headmistress in the Lord's Prayer.
Deep in contemplation and wearing white—the symbolic color of the purity of the angels—Coptic monks from the Monastery of Saint Pishoy in Egypt kneel around the altar during the Coptic Christmas ceremony.
US Army combatants pray during an Easter service held in an old quarry in the area around Anzio, Italy, in 1944. Part of the Allied invasion of mainland Italy, the Battle of Anzio was one of the fiercest in the southern Mediterranean theater.
Children pray in a primary school in the impoverished town of Loisevale in Upington, South Africa.
The act of prayer is attested in written sources as early as 5,000 years ago. According to World Population Review, about 85% of the world's people identify with a religion. The world's largest religion is Christianity, while Islam is the second most popular. Millions also follow Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and other religions. Devotees worship in all sorts of ways, with a person's faith often the main source of their ethical and moral beliefs.
Intrigued? Click through and take a look at the different ways we pray.
The different ways we pray
How we communicate with our god or gods
LIFESTYLE Religion
The act of prayer is attested in written sources as early as 5,000 years ago. According to World Population Review, about 85% of the world's people identify with a religion. The world's largest religion is Christianity, while Islam is the second most popular. Millions also follow Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and other religions. Devotees worship in all sorts of ways, with a person's faith often the main source of their ethical and moral beliefs.
Intrigued? Click through and take a look at the different ways we pray.