Belief and Change
As one who has been interested in the nature of “belief” from theological and social-scientific perspectives, I was quite taken with one of the slogans of the Obama presidential campaign: Change We Can Believe In . There can be no serious doubt that many people who were caught up in the campaign in support of Obama were also energized by the prospect of change. He declared, “I’m asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington … I’m asking you to believe in yours.” Apparently, enough voters chose to “believe” in change as expressed by his vision for America and our recent politics that he is now our President-elect—and many have considerable energy built up and pent up. But apparently, a vast array of these supporters also believe in their own ability to bring change, just as President-elect Obama declared. Now, what to do? It is not likely that the change envisioned by Candidate Obama can be achieved without the help—and continued activity—of