Post-9/11, More Are Putting Faith in Power of Prayer

From an article of the same title by K. Connie Kang in the LA Times:

Prayer is in. Surveys show that church attendance may be down, but praying is up. Polls show an overwhelming majority of Americans pray - 82% of adults. Nearly 90% believe in God. Books on prayer regularly make bestseller lists. And many people are choosing to pray together, whether literally in the same room, such as the worshipers at Oriental Mission Church, or at home through organized prayer efforts. "We're a people of faith," says Tim Kelly, theologian and psychologist on the faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. "Unlike the other Western nations that have turned away from their religious roots as they became more advanced, America has remained well-grounded in faith."... The advent of the Internet has made group praying more visible and organized, enabling millions to pray about the same issues daily. The nation's largest prayer group is believed to be the Internet-based Presidential Prayer Team, which claims 3 million participants nationwide. Participants agree to pray daily for the nation, President Bush, his Cabinet, other national leaders, U.S. troops and their families. The nondenominational spiritual movement, based in Phoenix, also got its start after Sept. 11... Some prayer groups specialize in Hollywood. One is the Hollywood Prayer Network, which pairs up people outside the entertainment industry with Christians inside Hollywood as one-to-one "prayer partners." The goal: that every Christian in Hollywood will be prayed for by an intercessor somewhere around the world. The group now has more than 400 one-to-one prayer partnerships in the U.S. and three other countries. Its homepage (hollywoodprayernetwork.org) shows the famous Hollywood sign over the Los Angeles skyline. Another organization, Redlands-headquartered Mastermedia International Inc., asks participants to pray for celebrities and members of the entertainment industry who don't know they are being prayed for.