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THE QUESTION
Presidents as saviors
Do we expect our presidents to be spiritual leaders as well as political leaders? Can they be? Should they be?
Posted by
Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on January 25, 2010 1:12 PM
FROM THE PANEL
Obama as messiah
We need to stop looking for elected or appointed messiahs to solve our problems and instead try to work individually and collectively to do it ourselves, and in the process make the world more peaceful, just, and compassionate in everything we do.
Posted by Ramdas Lamb, on January 28, 2010 2:59 AM
Presidents, deities and superheroes
It must be in our DNA that we continually long for leaders with unique powers to save the day. We are continually searching for another Moses, another Mohammed or another Messiah. We want a value added human who can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Someone who can "save the day" like Underdog, or at least show up just in the nick of time like the Lone Ranger.
Posted by Vashti Murphy McKenzie, on January 27, 2010 3:57 PM
Obama, Christ and Muhammad
In Obama, Americans like me were looking for a savior -- not a religious savior to save our souls, but a political one to save our country. The American president has no business worrying about the souls of the American people, that is not his job.
Posted by Pamela K. Taylor, on January 27, 2010 6:07 AM
Presidents are children of God, too
The truth is we all are children of God and, therefore, members of a divine family. Presidents are expected to be spiritual leaders as we all are expected to be, being the children of God.
Posted by Gardner Calvin Taylor, on January 26, 2010 9:29 PM
Spiritual leadership in politics: An indispensible ideal
Americans expect the president to be a spiritual leader as well as a political leader. There is a spiritual aspect to the American enterprise that has roots in the "city upon a hill" image of the Puritans on their ships, as well as later immigrants who set off for the unknown fueled by a hope for a better life.
Posted by Janet Edwards, on January 26, 2010 7:38 PM
Obama mixes old-birth culture, new-birth religion
Obama is not a "spiritual leader." He is a political leader with spiritual convictions which, rightly, he neither conceals nor obtrudes.
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on January 26, 2010 5:56 PM
Atheistic construct doesn't shed any light
The president is elected to serve as a political leader, not a religious one. The president is the leader of the whole nation, not one segment of the religious community. His speeches and pronouncements should reflect the understanding that he is president of all people in this religiously diverse, religious freedom-loving nation.
Posted by J. Brent Walker, on January 26, 2010 3:10 PM
Democrats and theocrats
Americans do seem to expect their presidents to be spiritual leaders, but given a choice, they'd rather the president make sure they have a job. If the unemployment rate were now at 6%, even 7%, would we even be having this conversation? No, of course not.
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on January 25, 2010 10:55 PM
Just a politician
Certainly every president should be concerned about what's good for America. But sometimes what's good for other countries is also good for America. And sometimes we can learn from other countries who do things better.
Posted by Herb Silverman, on January 25, 2010 6:38 PM
Neither nationalist nor socialist
Many of the Christian voices in government have not talked about the Kingdom of God. They've used the Kingdom of God to propagate a massive industrialized form of democratic nationalism, which is now being replaced by a form of democratic nationalistic socialism. So is it any different?
Posted by Matt Maher, on January 25, 2010 3:34 PM
Save & Share:
Navin1: An interesting question.
Not because of the question but because of the pointed confrontation of secular and religious.
Presidents are le...
khote14: There's a lot of retroactive worship of St Reagan among the conservatives. When I see this same kind of toadying from some of the liberals ...
Ezekiel37: A president can be a spiritual leader in theory, but I don't think we have had one in modern times that was a "good" spiritual leader....
