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Obama and the Rise of Secular Spirituality
By Deepak Chopra and Dave Stewart. Originally posted on Intent.com.
It’s rare enough for an incoming President to inspire such a flood of hope and optimism, or so much relief that our long imprisonment in the political doldrums should be ending. But Barack Obama has done more than that. He has become a symbol of the rise of secular spirituality in this country, a liberated set of values that exists largely outside organized religion. Perhaps he himself is unaware of secular spirituality by that name. In lockstep with all previous Presidents, Obama must be seen attending church regularly, and that church must be close to mainstream.
However, if you consider what he stands for, Obama’s worldview is more congruent with alternative theology than it is with churchgoers, 70 percent of whom were supporters of George Bush in his two election victories. Where organized religion has opted to stand by the right wing, millions of Americans who consider themselves spiritual have longed for peace, unity, nonviolence, and freedom that isn’t imposed by the force of arms. We think Obama stands for the same values. In that regard, he is taking up the mantle of Martin Luther King Jr., who should be honored as one of Obama’s spiritual forebears as much as Lincoln.
Religion was hijacked for political gain by the right wing beginning as far back as the Nixon era, yet there is a much stronger current of secular spirituality running through our history. The Founding Fathers were mostly Deists, rational Christians emerging from the Age of Enlightenment for whom a present-day Southern Baptist would have been totally foreign, if not anathema. They were tolerant believers in a benign God who transcended narrow denominations. They considered the rights of man to be the basis of enlightened belief, and when freedom was labeled an inalienable right, they meant that is was God-given, just as all men being created equal was God-given.
One senses a blessed return to rationality and the end of intolerant dogma as Obama prepares to enter the White House, but secular spirituality has expanded since the days of Jefferson and Adams. It now includes the following principles that we urge the new President to espouse (several of them he already has):
• A spiritual duty to be benign stewards of the Earth and to preserve the ecology.
• A responsibility to revere Nature and to be humble before it.
• A duty to further peace among nations.
• A pledge of nonviolence that will lead finally to total nuclear disarmament in our lifetime.
• A refusal to use America’s super power for militaristic ends.
• A sense of compassion for the poor and wretched beset by pandemic disease, lack of political influence, and denial of basic human rights.
If Obama can further any of these values, he will be leaping miles ahead of his predecessor. Nothing about secular spirituality is radical. Most of its principles are articles of belief for millions of average Americans who have largely been shut out of politics for eight years. Our hopes for the new President won’t be fulfilled until he adopts all of them. If he truly wants to reform the ways of Washington, he must extend his vision to the Congress, which under Republican domination served basically to block anything good and progressive.
But secular spirituality isn’t limited to the left or the progressive movement in general. It is a national phenomenon, one that will swell steadily in the coming years, particularly among the young. Born after the divisive culture wars that gave the right wing its main chance, the younger generations yearn for new values. Obama appeals to that yearning, and we hope he takes full advantage of it. It’s not good enough that he becomes the first African-American President, the first green President, or the first digital President. Nothing less than spiritual renewal is needed across the board, and there is no one of equal stature to lead it.
In the spirit of celebration, please watch to the music video created for this occasion by Dave Stewart and Deepak Chopra.
To learn more about The Vow, click here.
Written by: Dave Stewart, Deepak Chopra, Django James, and Mike Bradford.
Performed by: Django James, featuring Dave Stewart and Deepak Chopra.
Video edited by: Kori Bundi.
Intent.com provides content and community for who you aspire to be–personally, socially and globally.
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17 comments
add your comment »Religion is a choice and NOT one religion should be part of our government. Keep it out of school, off the air waves and let it survive without dominance. Nasty remarks about any one religion should not be protected if all aren't protected. Yet, one religions beliefs should not be enacted as law.
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and, God bless Obama! I pray for him daily, and support him!
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I believe that alot of organized religion/denominations base thier existence on a few notions, and not the full picture of thier scripture. My main complaint is that churches sometimes are not user friendly with the rest of life's obligations. Rather that making life surrounded by church, the church should be about the lessons being used into the world. Simplified, I get tired of the notion that life is only about church activities and how many are attended. It should be about communion and then going into the world and making it better.
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i only read a little of this article, but Obama is a member of the United Church of Christ and those ideas are part of what we believe.
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I TRUST MY FEELINGS AND OBAMA IS NOT "THE WAY"
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There has been a lot of lies about how to achieve eternal life, and the Christian churches have been taught that the body must die, but it’s the mind that must ‘die’ so the Spirit can be active and aware in the living Human being, and Heaven then comes to exist around that person, like Jesus Christ had 2000 years ago after His top chakra was opened by John the Baptist. The John 4:14 ‘River of Life’ baptism is Divine energy that makes a person ‘born again’, not some mental idea or request to Jesus or some swimming pool or ‘holy water’ in a bowl !! So why don’t churches teach this? Read here:
2 Peter 2:1, 2, 1 “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you… And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.”
Genesis 6:4 “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”
Jude 4 “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men...”
Luke 20:46 “Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;”
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No religion is to be despised and no religion is to be attacked. Attacking any religion is a very, very, absolutely unreal thing and you are working out a very unreal theory, which doesn't exist in the Divine Plan. So this is how we finish all fundamentalism. Fundamentalists are the ones who believe that this is written in this book, this is written in this book, and that we, because we read this book, we are something better. With a little common sense you can understand that at the moment we are put into this kind of domination by these few domineering people who have certain ideas they put forward. Anybody puts any idea. But with your will that you have now, the Will of God that has fashioned the whole world, which has fashioned you. Every cell within you has been fashioned by God Almighty and what you are doing is playing in the hands of these entrepreneurs. We have seen it happening, all those who talk of Christ. He has said it very clearly, “You’ll be calling me Christ, Christ - I won’t recognize you” (Matthew 7:22,23). Very clearly He has said it. It means those who will talk, and preach, and dress up to show off that they are spiritual, in the name of Christ, He will not recognize them. It’s as simple as that. And this time now when it’s the Last Judgment, He is going to judge the whole world on the basis of spirituality, which means energy vibrations (Jude 20, Revelation 22:2 & 1:4, Exodus 3 ‘bush’, John 4:14 – Kundal
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Deepak, I have been a supporter of yours for several years. Now I take exception to your statement that organized religion has been highjacked by the right wing. This is simply an untrue statement. Check out the United Methodist Church's stands for peace, world stewardship and other social ministry positions. Yes, there are right-wing elements in the church, as there are all major denominations, but they are not dominating the major life of the church. My own local church has a "green team", a ministry to the homeless and southeast Asian refugees and many more community oriented ministries. So, I was shocked that you could make such a sweeping generalization about organized religion. Oh, and by the way, the spiritual revolution in going to happen with or without our new President's support. The time is here, the time is now!
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Rosamaria, it is easy to tell yourself what you want to believe. Your anger is misdirected and it appears there are other issues in your life which need to be addressed before you can criticise others. Obama is a chance for change. What everyone in the USA needs to realise is, it is going to take more than 4 yrs to right the wrongs of the last 23. Be patient and supportive of your president. Do not be disappointed he does not fulfull all his promises in 1 or 2 yrs. Support him and support each other. It is your country and now YOU all have the chance to make it into the amazing place it should be.
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Everyone and anyone can exercise freedom of speech. At the same time anyone can pose negative retorts without realising the consequences it made. In this age and technology, this writer, Rosamaria could be a male or a female or don’t even use his or her name or worse yet, takes someone else’s name to conjure up or spin a tale to spread lies. If Rosamaria is indeed Rosamaria, than you have openly criticized the US president and you can be traced and tracked down. Dont underestimate anyone, not even a car washer or the toilet cleaner. What more a president of a country.
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