As I have said before several times and as I will keep saying as long as I am allowed, you don’t replace something with nothing. A post-christian, post-modern culture is not one of rational empirical scientific harmony. It is one of superstition, paranoia and worship of men.
present case in point Maggie Mertens of Smith College, who penned, “I will follow Him” Obama as My Personal Jesus.
here is the beginning. Pay close attention to the parts I bolded below.
Obama is my homeboy. And I’m not saying that because he’s black – I’m saying that in reference to those Urban Outfitters t-shirts from a couple years ago that said, “Jesus is my homeboy.” Yes, I just said it. Obama is my Jesus.
While you may be overtly religious and find this to be idol-worshipping, or may be overtly politically correct and just know that everything in that sentence could be found offensive, I’m afraid it’s true anyway.
As with many spiritual enlightenments, mine came in the middle of a bleak, hopeless period of my life. The innocent, idealistic world of politics that had shaped my childhood, the one that taught me how the president is a good guy, one who makes you feel safe, gives a speech on TV every once in a while and one you’d feel honored to shake hands with, had been slowly whittled into a deep rooted cynicism to anything politically related.
The crush of the Bush victory over Gore was only the first mar on my previously consummate ideal of the American administration. And the tragedies just kept continuing: Bush’s response to the Sept.11 attacks, the invasion of Iraq, the tax cuts for the rich, the downward spiral continued squashing my scant hope that the political world and state of our country could be saved.
Then I found my miracle. Stumbling through my hopeless world, afraid to turn to anyone with my political questions of morality, my concerns about the afterlife of the country I called home, a voice spoke to me.
emphasis added.
What do you do with religious fervor like this? For a mere mortal politician? Imagine how people like Ms. Mertens will react if Obama loses the election. Imagine how they will react if he wins and when he inevitably proves himself to be a mere human politician with all of the foibles and weaknesses inherent to the genre. What will people like Ms. Mertens do when the oceans don’t stop rising and people keep fighting and poor people still don’t have enough food and so on and so on? will they be disillusioned? will they double down on a bad bet by believing it is the evil satanic republicans at fault?
Seriously, where does this kind of thing go? Does anybody except me find the whole phenomenon fraught with menacing possibility? In case you don’t see the menace, I will let Maggie Mertens make it explicit for you with her concluding paragraph.
I’ve officially been saved, and soon, whether they like it or not, the rest of the country will be too. I will follow him, all the way to the White House, and I’ll be standing there in our nation’s capital in January 2009, when Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States of America. In the name of Obama, Amen.
Whether you like it or not…. Whether the rest of the country likes it or not….. You will be saved. In spite of yourself. Hope you like the experience.