Obama's Political Religion

Joe Knippenberg offers an interesting (though overly pessimistic, in my view) critique of Barack Obama's views on religion.  An excerpt:

The deficit to which [Obama] refers is an "empathy deficit," the apparent incapacity of some to put themselves in the shoes of others. But addressing that deficit would seem to be the precondition, not the effect, of achieving "the great need of the hour." How can there be unity without empathy?

But perhaps Obama has something else in mind. In his view, some are already empathetic and hence capable of unity. They already feel for the needy and are appropriately outraged at, say, the injustice of executive salaries. The problem is to bring others along, which can be done by personal example and stirring speeches—the classic means of prophetic witness—but also by government coercion, if necessary. Stated another way, Obama’s view of the role of the church elides the difference between religion and politics. His religion is emphatically a political religion, calling us not only to charitable action in civil society, but to political activism, justifying not only prophetic witness but also governmental coercion.