Keep the Faith: A Refreshing Bit of News to Start 2026 on the Right Note

RedState 

In a piece I wrote about New Year's Eve celebrations, I talked about the evolution of sorts I've had over the years in how I chose to ring in the new year. I've always been a homebody at heart, but in my younger years, sometimes I'd hit the club circuit at the invitation of friends, even though it wasn't really my scene.

At a certain point, I'd had enough. I hung up the clubbing spurs for good and never looked back, preferring to spend my evenings at home with family and/or a few close friends as the clock ticked closer to midnight. I had nothing against people who wanted to spend their nights on the town; I just chose to make my evenings more scaled-down affairs.

One thing I didn't mention but wish I had was how integral prayer has been to me in the celebrate-at-home scenarios. At the stroke of midnight - and I've been doing this for a long time, now - the first thing I do is say a prayer, asking for good health and other blessings for family, friends, and myself in the new year.

Though I know I'm far from the only one who engages in this tradition, I was pleased to find out this week that a growing number of people in America were choosing to pray to toast the New Year's Eve as well, rather than drink:

A new poll from Napolitan News conducted by Scott Rasmussen found that more Americans reported that they would say a prayer going into 2026 than will imbibe in revelry with alcohol. Out of 1,000 registered voters, 44% would say a prayer, while 39% would have an alcoholic beverage, which is down 12 points from 2022. This tracks with a general trend of more prayer in America.

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Alcohol consumption has been trending downward in recent years. An August Gallup poll found that only 54% of adults reported drinking alcohol—the lowest rate in nearly 90 years of tracking, down from 62% in 2023. 

Interestingly, the numbers show that the drinking "decline has been driven largely by younger generations," which is fascinating to hear, considering how there seems to be an emphasis on drinking in just about everything you see on TV and in the movies, whether it's beer, wine, scotch, etc.

As far as praying goes, Rasmussen pointed out in a tweet that it wasn't that people were treating prayer as a unique thing to do at the end of the year, just that it was a part of everyday life.

"Important to note that these numbers reflect the reality [that] many Americans pray every day or on most days. So, it's not a special New Year's prayer, just part of life," he wrote:

Obviously, it would be nice to see those numbers on praying increase and the numbers on drinking decrease. Not that it's wrong to drink, of course, as long as it's done in moderation. But in my opinion, there has been too much of an emphasis over the last couple of decades or so (probably longer than that) in finding happiness and contentment in earthly things over leaning on faith. As far as I'm concerned, the more we can make that trend reverse - with people choosing the Bible more so than the bottle, the better off we'll be, not just as individuals but also as a nation.

"Choose prayer. Choose courage. Choose beauty. Choose adventure. Choose family. Choose a life of faith. Most importantly, choose Christ." -- Erika Kirk, at Charlie Kirk's memorial service.