A Mixed-Methods Study of Communing With and Complaining to the Divine: Imagined Conversations With God Among Undergraduates Reporting Religious and Spiritual Struggles

Religious and spiritual (r/s) struggles pertain to matters of ultimate significance, such as moral dilemmas, religious doubts, and perceived conflict with God. Because people cannot offer absolute or objective solutions to such struggles, some turn to God for guidance and support. In a mixed-methods study of undergraduates from three U.S. universities (N = 976), we examined open-ended descriptions of imagined conversations with God during r/s struggles, and we tested whether conversation patterns differed for people focusing on divine struggles (n = 290) versus nondivine struggles (n = 680). Qualitative coding suggested that a variety of positive themes were common in expressions to God (e.g., gratitude) and imagined responses from God (e.g., unconditional love), whereas negative themes (e.g., questions about suffering; imagined abandonment) were uncommon. Examples of themes and conversation patterns are provided and interpreted. Scores derived from qualitative codes achieved evidence of reliability, and quantitative correlational analyses showed that more positive expressions generally associated with more positive imagined responses; however, people focused on divine struggles had more negative conversation patterns than those focused on nondivine struggles. In all, conversation themes and patterns were consistent with the view that people perceive God in relational terms and that one's perceived relationship with God may be disrupted when focusing on divine struggles. Based on these findings, we suggest that providers working with clients reporting r/s struggles may explore imagined conversations with the divine to obtain potentially useful information about clients' perceived relationships with God and facilitate greater understanding and resolution of these struggles.