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While Sen. Marco Rubio directly referred to blessings, prayer, and God-given rights in the Republican response to last night's State of the Union address, President Barack Obama spoke in less outwardly religious terms as he called on Americans as citizens to serve one another. Both politicians referred to Americans as "authors" of the country's future.

Rubio, a week after being called "The Republican Savior" on the cover of Time, framed many political issues in religious terms.

He told the military they were "in our prayers." He referred to America's energy resources as blessings from God. He incorporated a pro-life perspective into a description of the country's values, saying "we believe that every life, at every stage, is precious." He called the American dream a "God-given right."

A Catholic convert with friendly ties to evangelicals (he describes his faith in this CT interview), Rubio made his faith a bigger part of his speech than Obama, who evoked a sermon-like style and American civil religion at the end of his address.

Obama told the story of a Chicago teen shot to death weeks after performing at his inauguration. Her parents sat beside First Lady Michelle Obama, and dozens of others who lost family members to gun violence were also in the audience.

"They deserve a vote," the president said. "Gabby Giffords deserves a vote. The families of Newtown deserve a vote. The families of Aurora deserve a vote."

"The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence - they deserve a simple vote."

In the Washington Post's OnFaith blog, Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite referred to this refrain as a "call and response":

The "amen" chorus at the end of the address was no accident. It elevated the full-throated defense of government the president had given in the earlier part of the address to a "call."

Obama highlighted a nurse who saved 20 newborns at a New York City hospital during Hurricane Sandy, a 102-year-old Florida ...

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