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“Why did I pray? What a strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?”

it is shown by this sentence alone, along with the many others that mention prayer and God, that religion was very important to Elie. We know that he was not the only one, too, because on  page 24 he says "in the midst of these men assembled for prayer, i felt like an observer, a stranger." Elie compares prayer to things like breathing and living, clearly believing that faith is as necessary as breathing would be. And even when facing the worst tortures, humiliation, and fear all of those men continued to pray and hope. Prayer and religion was what made most if not all of these men feel like they had something left, and to this day in our current world this is still something we do. When a family member dies we pray that they reach the afterlife safely, we pray that God takes care of them, and when we are scared we look to God for guidance and protection. Religion is not just what kept those men somewhat sane, but also what keeps many of us sane to this day.

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"'Where is He? Here He is-He is hanging here on this gallows....'" (referring to God)

Chapter 3, pg. 32
"I did not deny God's existence, but I doubted His absolute justice."

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In "Night" by Elie Wiesel

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"Have we ever considered the consequence of a less visible, less striking abomination, yet the worst of all, for those of us who have faith: the death of God in the soul of a child who suddenly faces absolute evil?"

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"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."

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"We believed in God, trusted in man, and lived with the illusion that every one of us has been entrusted with a sacred spark from the Shekhinah's flame; that every one of us carries in his eyes and in his soul a reflection of God's image. That was the source if not the cause of all our ordeals."

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As time went on Elie began losing faith in his own God, and eventually he lost it all together. He would claim that god was dead, that he didn't care for justice, and even admitted that he no longer had God with him. After he loses faith is when he really starts to lose his innocence and hope, separating himself from others and not bothering to pray with them. All he really had left was faith, and he soon lost that too.

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Elie himself describes the death of a God to be the worst thing he and his peers can experience. He needed faith, his peers needed faith, they all needed something to give them some sort of hope. Without that, Elie and the other prisoners would feel betrayed, lost, and lose their minds. He considered the death of a god to be worse than anything else, even what he was currently dealing with in the concentration camps, and Elie himself was beginning to lose faith and consider the possibility of God not being there for him. He knew from experience the pain of losing his faith.