Do I believe that Barack Obama elicits religious fervor among his followers? The fact that the question is asked would seem to suggest a perception that he does. This is not itself evidence of a significant presence of religion in his or any other candidate's campaign. In fact this phenomenon may really be signaling a lack of real religion in the American electorate.

Many years ago someone complained to Prime Minister McMillan that the people were looking for spiritual inspiration (which he presumably was not providing). If the people want spiritual inspiration, he replied, let them go the Archbishop of Canterbury. His point was that he wasn't there to provide spiritual inspiration, but to address the secular issues. Yet people want more than a parsing of policy. They want to be inspired. They want the "vision thing". And if real religion is missing, they will still need the experience of a redeemer or messiah, and they will look for him in the political arena.

Obama seems to have tapped in to this spiritual hunger. For the time being it has served his candidacy, allowing him to proclaim a message of change and rebirth without having to focus on policy specifics.