Religion Dispatches ran my latest column today. It is entitled "American Idol(atry): McCain-as-Jesus" and critiques some blasphemous comments made recently by the head of the Georgia Republican Party. She stated:
John McCain is kind of like Jesus Christ on the cross. He never denounced God, either.In the piece I focus on the problem of making America out to be God.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteFocusing more on the "politician as messiah" front, there's been plenty said on Obama.
On the Internet video sharing site YouTube, the pulsating steel-pan fused Barack the Magnificent, by Trinidad calypso king The Mighty Sparrow, has gotten more than 70,000 hits.
"He's no ordinary man," said Sparrow, who calls Obama a man of resplendid vision with the wisdom of Solomon, the biblical king of Israel. ``I see people my age in the 70s, 80s, 60s, 50s screaming out in appreciation like when the Beatles first came to America. I can't believe that older people would react that way. That is one of the reasons why I believe he was sent by the Messiah."
Thanks for the comment! You are absolutely correct that there has been more messianic rhetoric surrounding Obama--and he is more guilty of using messianic language than McCain. Such discourse is also disturbing. The focus of this piece was not really on McCain as Jesus (even though they put that in the title) but the problem of casting America as God.
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