Underneath the uproar of modern life, with all its disheartening social trends and pessimistic outlooks, a quiet but dramatic shift has taken place in peoples' attitudes toward spirituality. They want more of it.

Not only that, but they are also thinking more about the basic meaning and value of life itself. "Clearly," says a prestigious polling organization, "much is stirring in the spiritual life of the populace as we move into a new century." It adds, "More Americans are expressing interest in spiritual and religious concerns than ever before."

For more than 60 years, the Gallup Organization has been taking the nation's spiritual pulse, finding important trends in how Americans feel about religion and ethical matters. In a new book, Surveying the Religious Landscape, the organization presents a collection of its surveys covering more than half a century. The findings are encouraging to all members of the Church, who may not have realized how deeply held are religious beliefs in the United States.

The figures are straightforward, indeed startling. In just four years, from 1994 to 1998, the percentage of Americans who say they feel a need to experience spiritual growth surged from 58 percent to 82 percent. That's 24 points. We've also seen an 11 point increase — to 69 percent — since 1985 in the number of people who say they think often about the basic meaning of life. Nine out of 10 adults say that they pray, and almost all of them think their prayers are heard and answered. Three out of four people say they pray daily.

Clearly, the United States is a religious country, one of the most religiously committed in the world. Yet something more is needed.

President George Albert Smith explained the situation well. He was president of the Church during the period following World War II, when the Gallup organization found (in 1947) that 95 percent of the public said they believed in God. "There is a real famine in the world for the words of the Lord," President Smith wrote, "and many honest souls are earnestly seeking to know what our Heavenly Father desires of them." Despite that, and although he had met many good and devout people, not many of them embraced the necessity to understand the gospel and participate in its ordinances. "It is this information of which the world is in most need. . . . I believe we have a duty to perform and we will have to labor more earnestly in the future than we have done in the past to discharge it, if we fulfill the requirements of our Heavenly Father." (Sharing the Gospel With Others, pp. 59-60.)

Since he said that, belief in God has changed very little. Today 95 percent of the public still believes in God or a universal spirit, but his caution is still in effect: belief must lead to some action. As the Gallup organization put it, "Religion is highly popular in this country, but survey evidence suggests that it does not change people's lives to the degree one would expect from the level of professed faith."

That is the message and opportunity: to change lives. In the United States, at least, the foundation of faith is clearly there. Building upon it has always been the challenge facing the Church as it has proclaimed the restoration of the priesthood.

The way for people to achieve a higher level of spirituality is to follow the path set out by the Savior: Take their faith into repentance, then baptism and acceptance of the Holy Ghost. The ordinances now exist through which they'll become revitalized. And as any member of the Church can attest, they'll find a framework of commitment that can lead them to greater and deeper levels of spirituality.

Brigham Young explained: "The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the opening avenue — the open gate in the road or way from earth to heaven, through which direct revelation comes to the children of men in their various capacities. . . . The ordinances pertaining to the holy Priesthood are the means by which the children of men find access to the way of life, wherein they can extend their travels until they return to the presence of their Father and God." (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 6.)