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See Again
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Quaker prayer meeting
- 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.
© Getty Images
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Quaker prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
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Buddhist prayer
- Buddhist monks and worshippers gather at the tooth sanctuary in Sri for the exposition ceremony of the relic of the tooth of Buddha.
© Getty Images
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Jewish 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.
© Getty Images
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Praying to the sun
- Big Spring, a South Piegan Blackfoot chief, raises his arms in prayer to the sun in the 1880s.
© Getty Images
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Ancient Roman prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
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Ancient Egyptian prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
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Christian prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
8 / 29 Fotos
Sufi prayer
- Sufism is mysticism in Islam. Some Sufis whirl when praying or meditating.
© Getty Images
9 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- A 1950s congregation of devout men, women, and children sitting together in church pews with heads bowed in prayer.
© Getty Images
10 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- Two well-dressed children attend church in the 1960s and pray together.
© Getty Images
11 / 29 Fotos
Hindu prayer
- Hindus say prayers next to the holy River Ganges in Varanasi, India.
© Getty Images
12 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- Youngsters pictured in 1963 at Laxton Junior School in Peterborough, England, joining their headmistress in the Lord's Prayer.
© Getty Images
13 / 29 Fotos
Sikh prayer
- A Sikh devotee in prayer and meditation at the Golden Temple (in Amritsar, India), Sikhism's holiest of places.
© Getty Images
14 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- An American family in the 1950s saying grace before a Thanksgiving meal.
© Getty Images
15 / 29 Fotos
Shinto prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
16 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
17 / 29 Fotos
Zoroastrian prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
18 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- Children pray in a primary school in the impoverished town of Loisevale in Upington, South Africa.
© Getty Images
19 / 29 Fotos
Coptic Christian 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.
© Getty Images
20 / 29 Fotos
Jewish prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
21 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
22 / 29 Fotos
Muslim prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
23 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
24 / 29 Fotos
Muslim 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.
© Getty Images
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Christian prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
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Muslim prayer
- A Muslim devotee prays in front of the pyramids of Giza outside Cairo, in Egypt.
© Getty Images
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Muslim prayer
- 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)
© Getty Images
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© Getty Images
0 / 29 Fotos
Quaker prayer meeting
- 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.
© Getty Images
1 / 29 Fotos
Quaker prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
2 / 29 Fotos
Buddhist prayer
- Buddhist monks and worshippers gather at the tooth sanctuary in Sri for the exposition ceremony of the relic of the tooth of Buddha.
© Getty Images
3 / 29 Fotos
Jewish 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.
© Getty Images
4 / 29 Fotos
Praying to the sun
- Big Spring, a South Piegan Blackfoot chief, raises his arms in prayer to the sun in the 1880s.
© Getty Images
5 / 29 Fotos
Ancient Roman prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
6 / 29 Fotos
Ancient Egyptian prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
7 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
8 / 29 Fotos
Sufi prayer
- Sufism is mysticism in Islam. Some Sufis whirl when praying or meditating.
© Getty Images
9 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- A 1950s congregation of devout men, women, and children sitting together in church pews with heads bowed in prayer.
© Getty Images
10 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- Two well-dressed children attend church in the 1960s and pray together.
© Getty Images
11 / 29 Fotos
Hindu prayer
- Hindus say prayers next to the holy River Ganges in Varanasi, India.
© Getty Images
12 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- Youngsters pictured in 1963 at Laxton Junior School in Peterborough, England, joining their headmistress in the Lord's Prayer.
© Getty Images
13 / 29 Fotos
Sikh prayer
- A Sikh devotee in prayer and meditation at the Golden Temple (in Amritsar, India), Sikhism's holiest of places.
© Getty Images
14 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- An American family in the 1950s saying grace before a Thanksgiving meal.
© Getty Images
15 / 29 Fotos
Shinto prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
16 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
17 / 29 Fotos
Zoroastrian prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
18 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- Children pray in a primary school in the impoverished town of Loisevale in Upington, South Africa.
© Getty Images
19 / 29 Fotos
Coptic Christian 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.
© Getty Images
20 / 29 Fotos
Jewish prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
21 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
22 / 29 Fotos
Muslim prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
23 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
24 / 29 Fotos
Muslim 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.
© Getty Images
25 / 29 Fotos
Christian prayer
- 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.
© Getty Images
26 / 29 Fotos
Muslim prayer
- A Muslim devotee prays in front of the pyramids of Giza outside Cairo, in Egypt.
© Getty Images
27 / 29 Fotos
Muslim prayer
- 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)
© Getty Images
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The different ways we pray
How we communicate with our god or gods
© Getty Images
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.
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