Disappointment in God and Relational Spirituality: Moderator Effects for Meditative Prayer

Abstract

In recent years, there have been a number of studies exploring the positive and negative aspects of spirituality. While many studies have indicated spirituality has a generally positive influence in persons’ lives, people also experience negative effects associated with spiritual struggles. Studies have also suggested that spiritual practices such as prayer have the potential to mitigate the difficult and distressing aspects of spirituality. In this study, we explore the role of prayer in the relationship between disappointment in God and relational spirituality (i.e. how one relates to what they perceive to be sacred). Our results indicated that meditative prayer has a moderating effect, such that the negative relationship between disappointment in God and relational spirituality outcomes became less significant as subjects engaged in more frequent meditative prayer. Significant effects were not found for colloquial prayer or petitionary prayer.