Texas Gov. Rick Perry held his much-publicized — some say too publicized, but I strongly disagree — daylong prayer rally in Houston on Saturday. Check out coverage of “The Response” from CNN, AP and Mark Silk’s Spiritual Politics blog. Let’s see if this does better than the prospective presidential candidate’s prayers for rain to end the Texas drought (see the seventh paragraph of the Houston Chronicle’s story).

Meanwhile, atheists in the U.S. Army have won the right to hold a “Rock Beyond Belief” concert for nonbelievers. See, there are some atheists in foxholes — though presumably if Perry becomes commander in chief, he’ll pray for their salvation.

In addition to the U.S. economy and our troops — especially the Navy Seals, who suffered an awful loss in Afghanistan over the weekend (not the same guys who killed Osama bin Laden) — prayers are going out for the people of Japan, who are commemorating the 66th anniversary of the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and of course still recovering from this year’s nuclear disaster.

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