Peter Manseau

News last week that holiday decorations in Chicago’s Daley Plaza will be joined this year by a light-up “A” for atheism served as a reminder that though the anti-religion camp may claim victory over believers on many fronts, iconography is not one of them.

No matter whose name eventually emerges from the fog of smoke over the Vatican this week, it’s safe to say his face will soon grace the cover of Time. Just under the wire for Holy Week, the traditional season of religiously themed magazine covers.

With Twitter, there is just the right mix of calculable dissemination and mystery. You know who has retweeted or favorited your prayer, but what of the followers of the followers of the followers who follow you who did not retweet or favorite but may have read and been affected by your prayer?