Posted by Dave on 03/06/08 at 06:54:37 am
Categories: Sociology Ravings, Barack Obama, Campaign 2008

Robert Bellah is one of the greatest living sociologists. Seriously. He has studied the sociology of religion, and has specifically looked at different issues related to civil religion, community, and individualism. He is the author of the seminal work, Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life, which looks at, among other things, the role that religion plays on individualism and civil engagement in America. It has been an incredibly influential book on many, including me. So needless to say, I have a great amount of respect for Bellah as a sociologist and critic of American culture.

Bellah has written a great piece on Barack Obama that is a must read:

Yes He Can: The Case for Obama:

Barack Obama has stirred my political hopes like no one since Franklin Roosevelt.
...
I know Obama talks a lot about hope, but that is what he has given me: hope, when I had begun to believe that the situation in my country was hopeless.

Go read the entire thing.

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