Obamania and the Religiosity of Politics

While I can only vividly remember four presidential elections, I have never witnessed an election with more celebrity vibe and popular appeal. From Huckabee appearing on The Colbert Report and Saturday Night Live to Hilary making a similar SNL appearance, it is obvious, however, that the candidate with the most populist and popular appeal is Barack Obama. And while populism and celebrity appeal of politicians is not inherently a bad thing, and in some cases is good if it encourages people to talk about things that really matter. The point that I become slightly uncomfortable is when the rhetoric used in the campaigns seeps to the edges of religious.

If you watch the video about Obama, the second such video produced by a supporter (and it should be said, not directly produced by Obama’s campaign, but I’m sure it will somehow find its way to his website) featuring many celebrities, you will hear a song and words that echo the tones of contemporary worship experiences in a Christian church. As Obama’s name is chanted, and even sung, in the background, you hear celebrities speak out in support of him, although no clear reason is ever given why they support him.

And as someone who deeply values the separation of church and state that is a major tenet of my faith, it is not just the overall religious tone to the video that bothers me, but even certain phrases that are used. Phrases such as “I believe in Barack Obama,” and words such as “revival” obviously have their place and meaning in secular culture. Revival simply means to revive something from sleep or death, and believing in something is a common phrase we use. But when these phrases are used in a context bordering on religious inspiration, they become obvious allusions to a religious-type movement in our nationalistic political campaigns.

While I can have nothing to say about secularists placing their faith in a political candidate or hoping for a political “revival” of a country, but as Christians, this type of rhetoric runs against everything we stand for. This language that borders on religion in a political campaign has less to say about any specific candidate as it does about the nature of American politics and its dangerous mingling into civil religion. As Christians, we are called to place our faith in Jesus alone, not in a political “messiah” who we hope will stop global warming, make our world safer, and reach out to help every kind of person. Our hope lies in one who came to establish a new kingdom, where political power and violence do not dominate, but love and sacrifice. Not in one who tries to gain support by spinning opponents’ words and gaining political power, but in one who “emptied himself in the form of a slave,” who “humbled himself to the point of death,” one who is exalted as the “name above every name.”