Several observers have noted that in both his rhetoric and in the zeal he inspires in his supporters, Barack Obama is being presented as a Messiah. Consider these lines from his speeches:
“We are the hope of the future.” We can “remake this world as it should be.”
We can become “a hymn that will heal this nation, repair this world, and make this time different than all the rest.”
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
Similarly, people are putting their “hope” in him. They are “inspired” by him. He is “charismatic.” Notice the religious terminology.I like Obama and far prefer him to Hillary Clinton. But in a secularist culture–something rare and unnatural in the history of humanity–religious impulses, long suppressed, can lie just under the surface and, with the right catalyst can come roaring back into the void. The old pagan model–revived under Fascism– of a divinized ruler in a divinized state may be the default position in human governments.I guess people who think all religions are essentially the same and equally valid might see this messianic outbreak as a good thing, but Christians cannot. (Contemplate again the skull of Valentine, who refused to accept the Roman pantheon and Caesar as god at the cost of his life.)
UPDATE: And now people at Obama rallies are getting slain in the spirit.
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