Obama as Messiah<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The cult of Obama is back.\u00a0 A big-selling (but non-official) calendar at the Democratic National Convention includes this photo of President Obama's birth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/obama-as-messiah\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obama as Messiah\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The cult of Obama is back.\u00a0 A big-selling (but non-official) calendar at the Democratic National Convention includes this photo of President Obama's birth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/obama-as-messiah\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-07T10:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8440\/7915914378_a9c69c0ff9.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/obama-as-messiah\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/obama-as-messiah\/\",\"name\":\"Obama as Messiah\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-07T10:00:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-07T10:00:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"The cult of Obama is back.\u00a0 A big-selling (but non-official) calendar at the Democratic National Convention includes this photo of President Obama's birth\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/obama-as-messiah\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/obama-as-messiah\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/obama-as-messiah\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Obama as Messiah\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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{"id":12569,"date":"2012-09-07T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T10:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/?p=12569"},"modified":"2012-09-07T06:00:30","modified_gmt":"2012-09-07T10:00:30","slug":"obama-as-messiah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/09\/obama-as-messiah\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama as Messiah"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"photo$ <\/p>\n

From Slate:\u00a0 DNC 2012: Still Kitschin\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Compare with the divinization of\u00a0 Obama <\/a>in his first campaign.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not blaming the president for this.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a stark example of how people with a religious void will sometimes turn to charismatic human beings to fill it.\u00a0\u00a0 Consider the religious devotion\u2013the shrines, the reliquaries, the pilgrimages, the raptures\u2013that some people have for Elvis Presley.\u00a0\u00a0 But to divinize a ruler is especially dangerous since the worshiper accepts the unlimited power and the immunity from moral limits in the adoration of this earthly god.\u00a0 Christians were persecuted in the early church precisely for refusing to burn incense to the divinized emperor.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be surprised if that becomes an issue again.\u00a0 Cultures can\u2019t stay godless for long, but the god they turn to, by nature, will tend to be a cultural god.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"