It’s always nice when somebody else says what I’m thinking and writes in on a blog. That way, when I have no time to write, I can just excerpt and link.
Sherry Colb has written about the recent furor over Barack Obama’s remarks about why people may adhere to guns, religion, and fear of outsiders:
Senator Obama has indicated no desire to do anything radical to interfere with religious faith, hunting, or immigration reform. On policy, his views resemble Hillary’s, and he has shown an openness and a respect for those on the other side of the aisle that is quite refreshing and unusual. But he is also a thinking person, and when a thinking person ponders the popularity of God, hunting, and anti-immigration sentiment, he is likely to draw conclusions about the social facts that give to such popularity, quite apart from the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the underlying substance. That Barack Obama is a deep thinker is not a weakness but a strength. He should perhaps have phrased his words somewhat differently, but there is nothing disqualifying, alarming, or even especially controversial about anything that he said.
Very good post by Colb. I love that phrase, “the popularity of god”, like it’s a high school popularity contest. Made me chuckle.
Obama’s comments were spot-on: in times of unrest, especially economic, people tend to view outsiders with unfriendly eyes and draw towards religion. History has shown that to be very true.