no less than

I spend a great deal of my free time critiquing Christianity. (Don't worry - this post is not about the hundreds of things that I think about the thousands of things I have come across pertaining to the vast subject of "Christianity." I might save those conversations for the poor soul sitting beside me on my upcoming 17 hour plane flight to Dubai.) But really, it is no secret that I find enjoyment in studying, deconstructing, and teaching aspects of the theology, history, and practice of Christianity. It is also no secret that I am not much of a Christian apologist. But there is one thing I stand by to no avail: Jesus lived with an apocalyptic sense of urgency and he lead a political movement in which he inspired people personally, so much, that 2,000 years later Jesus, (and of course that which has been attributed to him by architects of the church), is remembered daily by billions of people while other messianic movements and magical people from that very place and that time are not.

There is a reason why some people stick.

When people are oppressed, and disengaged from the causes of the circumstances of their lives as the people of Israel were at the time of Jesus, there's only room for certain things to stick. Not every Joe Schmoe is going to inspire a revolution, or a movement, or a belief that the kingdom of God will reward those suffering at the hand of Rome. And today, it seems difficult for a movement of empowerment to resonate with those who are economically oppressed, or with those who feel that their voices, VOTES, and lives have been ignored and harmed at the hands of politicians who love war, are eons away from the economic conditions of most Americans.

Barack Obama has stuck.

This is not by chance, and no matter what happens from here on out in this election, the wave of change associated with the hope and faith represented by and placed in Barack Obama, are not soon to go away.

Here is a video that really stuck with America, and the international community. When the video came out in March, it became a "who done it" story because so, so, so many people understood and agreed with the message. And even if those very people are not voting this cycle, their sentiment was voiced in this video, - no less than the sentiment Jesus voiced for a group of people in the Galilee, and no less than the voice Barack Obama has taken on for so many of us. Thanks, Phil.