‘What I Do is Live. How I Pray I Breathe’: The Persistence of Prayer in an Australian Public Hospital

‘PrayerPrayer’ persists in twenty-first century Australia. The word ‘prayer’ adds solemnity and gravitas when used by civic leaders to express concern at times of crisisCrisis. Unless the speaker is religious most people might say ‘thinking of you’ Public prayer supports social cohesion and purpose especially at Anzac but is contested when used in Parliament. Interest in the practice of personal prayer continues despite the decline of those affiliating with a religionReligion. This interest was demonstrated by online searches for prayer during the COVID-19COVID-19 pandemic and during other crises. It also becomes more visible in the setting of a hospitalHospital where it is almost impossible to evade questions about human contingency and finitude. PrayerPrayer indicates that religionReligion matters albeit in the largely unobserved world of the personal and private sphere of human existence.