At this point in Season Five of “24,” The president of the United States has been brought to a place of asking his chief of staff to pray with him. The chief of staff balks, saying “This is a personal matter.”

“Please, just… please,” says the president, as they then both take a knee.

But while President Logan was praying, I couldn’t help but wonder why it is that our culture is so accepting of prayers in times of last resort, but not prayers as a first offense and primary resource toward whichever challenges we’re facing personally, professionally, or nationally? And if we’ll pray after a crisis hits, why not pray as a regular practice, applying the biblical principles upon which our nation was founded?

It’s as if “crisis” makes prayer authentic, but “peace time” makes prayer a violation of church and state. This week’s script on “24” was either art imitating life or life imitating, well, something less than art.