Barack and Aimee


Barack as Faith-Healer?
Matt Sutton

The Washington Times ran an obnoxious, provocative editorial this morning dubbing Barack Obama a modern faith-healer. While I vehemently disagree with much of the article, the issue of Obama as a Messiah-figure is worth thinking about. And, most importantly, anyone who links Obama to Aimee Semple McPherson can’t be all bad, right??

Comments

Anonymous said…
Interesting article, and gives historians and other analysts of American religion much to think about. On Obama-as-messiah, check this out:
http://obamamessiah.blogspot.com/
Is Barack Obama being portrayed as a "Messianic" figure?

Given our national obsession with celebrities, projecting a Messianic aura around Obama may say a lot more about our dream for a Messiah. Of course I do not wish to impute that Obama is a "Messiah." For me, Obama certainly comes across as a blend of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy--icons who exuded a Messianic quality. However, to me, Obama is nothing more than a politician--a smooth-talking man who certainly tells the people what they want to hear.

Rabbi Michael Samuel
Anonymous said…
Wow, Obama must be doing his job. The Times author is clearly so worried about the influence he is having on people that he has to combine racial allusions ("brush-arbor revival"? "no Muslim here"? and Oprah's thigh hairs??) with a transparent mix of odd quotes to somehow "prove" that . . . what? Obama is Messiah-like? That other people are starved for a leader they can respect? That some people use hyperbolic religious rhetoric to make a point and garnish their ratings?

I fail to see what any of this really says about Obama as a candidate, other than that poor Wesley Pruden is a wee bit uncomfortable, and is just clever enough to figure out how to use new age spirituality as a hammer just as he uses Islam and slave religion. Would that academic publishing were so easy.

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