Jeanet Sinding Bentzen, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark finds out in her research that people had been finding information related to “prayer” on “google” at a very increased rate in March 2021. Bentzen is also the executive director of the Association for the Study of Religion, Economics, and Culture. She used the data of google trends of 75 countries to come to this conclusion. This finding was part of her study on "In Crisis, We Pray: Religiosity and the Covid-19 Pandemic.”

In her research finding, she highlighted that the surge in interest in “prayer” on “google” is irrespective of the religion one is following. The number of searches has never been so high since the year 2004 finds Bentzen. It’s evident from her research finding that when people are coping with the crisis, they use prayer to find more support. “This surge in average religiosity occurs on all continents, for people belonging to all major religions, income groups, and from all educational backgrounds,” mentions Bentzen in her research (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343627578_In_Crisis_We_Pray_Religiosity_and_the_COVID-19_Pandemic/download, page 7).

Several experts have commented on her research finding mentioning that though people have been googling prayer at an all-time high rate, the real reason could not be an increase in religiosity but the fact that the internet is the only source of turning to positive sources like prayer due to the social distancing norms. Bentzen has mentioned that this data needs to be further updated in the coming months to get the latest picture of the “prayer-search” trend.