In Newsweek Lisa Miller writes on the diversity of religious support for Obama. The norm is no longer the narrow definition of religion that equates the belief system of white christian evangelicals with true religion. Instead, a whole range of religious and spiritual points of view merged in one point of view: a vote for Obama. Diversity and openness combined with an inquisitive attitude seem to be the keywords for the new spirit that Obama embodies, not only when it comes to the spiritual. Michael Hirsch celebrates the end of anti-intellectualism of the Republican era, the simplistic good vs. evil worldview that made any nuance impossible, the narrow mindedness that made anti-abortion and anti-gay into the essence to what it meant to be religious as well als the only things that determined your vote. Obama embodies here the same attitude of openness, the possibilitly of doubt as an invitation for thorough analysis, an inductive approach to solving challenges instead of applying rigorous principles derived from ideological pure axioms.
It is good to note that these changes and new definitions are a return. Change is never completely new. Religion has always been marked by diversity as well as the effort to construct rigid monolithic belief systems (see monotheism). Political history has seen era's of intellectual openness as well as anti-intellectual slogan politics. Obama's new spirit is therefore also an old spirit. The problem remains that when looking back in history anti-intellectualism and rigid belief seem to prevail. Why is that and what does it tell us about the future?
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