Every reader ought to notice that Barack Obama has gone out of his way in his biography to say how much of his childhood years he spent listening to the episodes in the Ramayana and Mahabharata. This of course, implies his appetite for spiritualism as well as his interest.

On the day he announced his candidacy for president in 2019, Joe Biden said the coming campaign would be a battle for the soul of America. The Democratic National Convention has embraced and amplified that theme with a series of extraordinary attacks on President Donald Trump and a warning that the very foundations of the nation are on the ballot this November.