In April 2007, the New York Times ran a piece on Barack Obama's spiritual journey.
Two decades ago, Barack Obama found a home at the Trinity United Church of Christ.
Twenty years ago at Trinity, Mr. Obama, then a community organizer in poor Chicago neighborhoods, found the African-American community he had sought all his life, along with professional credibility as a community organizer and an education in how to inspire followers. He had sampled various faiths but adopted none until he met Mr. Wright, a dynamic pastor who preached Afrocentric theology, dabbled in radical politics and delivered music-and-profanity-spiked sermons.
The Times writes that Obama will have great difficulty distancing himself from Wright and his views because Obama has embraced him so completely and so publicly.
...It is hard to imagine... how Mr. Obama can truly distance himself from Mr. Wright. The Christianity that Mr. Obama adopted at Trinity has infused not only his life, but also his campaign. He began his presidential announcement with the phrase “Giving all praise and honor to God,” a salutation common in the black church. He titled his second book, “The Audacity of Hope,” after one of Mr. Wright’s sermons, and often talks about biblical underdogs, the mutual interests of religious and secular America, and the centrality of faith in public life.
There is no question that Wright is Obama's mentor.
Given some of Wright's statements, that's a problem for Obama.
From FOX News:
Although Wright delivered what was billed as his final sermon last month on his path to retirement, prior to his departure he delivered commentary from the pulpit now being scrutinized in which he praised Obama.
“There is a man here who can take this country in a new direction,” Wright said during his Jan. 13 sermon, according to recordings obtained by FOX News.
It was not the first time Wright appeared to endorse Obama, who was baptized at Trinity United....
During a Christmas sermon, Wright tried to compare Obama’s upbringing to Jesus at the hands of the Romans.
“Barack knows what it means living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people,” Wright said. “Hillary would never know that.
“Hillary ain’t never been called a nigger. Hillary has never had a people defined as a non-person.”
In his Jan. 13 sermon, Wright said:
“Hillary is married to Bill, and Bill has been good to us. No he ain’t! Bill did us, just like he did Monica Lewinsky. He was riding dirty.”
Wow.
This is a Christian pastor's sermon? This is what he says from the pulpit?
Amazing.
Doesn't Obama owe Hillary an apology for his mentor's disgraceful comments?
FOX News purchased the video recordings of Wright’s sermons from the church.
“It’s pretty clear an indirect endorsement of Barack Obama - that’s not something you’re supposed to do according to the tax code,” said Andrew Walsh, a professor at Trinity College who specializes in religion in politics.
The tax code bans churches from participating in or intervening in a political campaign. Violations can result in the loss of a church’s tax exempt status.
The tax code is one thing.
What about the deeper issue of the values being preached by Wright?
“Hillary is married to Bill, and Bill has been good to us. No he ain’t! Bill did us, just like he did Monica Lewinsky. He was riding dirty.”
WRIGHT IS THE PASTOR. THIS IS OBAMA'S CHURCH. HIS CHURCH!
The Obama campaign issued a statement in response to FOX News’ inquiries about Wright’s sermons.
“Senator Obama has said repeatedly that personal attacks such as this have no place in this campaign or our politics, whether they’re offered from a platform at a rally or the pulpit of a church,” said Bill Burton, a campaign spokesman.
Here we go again...
If Obama deeply disagrees with Wright, then why has he remained at his church for twenty years?
It's not enough for Obama to simply say that he disagrees with Wright's vulgarity and ugliness.
He should denounce Wright in very clear terms.
Obama, the wannabe president, should not belong to a church that preaches such a message.
It says a lot about Obama.
...Obama defended Wright’s longtime activism for blacks in America last week at a campaign event in Ohio.
“Jeremiah Wright … has said some things that are considered controversial because he’s considered that part of his social gospel,” Obama said.
I don't see how Obama can defend Wright.
“Hillary is married to Bill, and Bill has been good to us. No he ain’t! Bill did us, just like he did Monica Lewinsky. He was riding dirty.”
If that is his social gospel, then his gospel is sick.
His remarks are not just controversial. They're absolutely inexcusable.
Let's face it: Obama's very personal and close connections with a man like Wright are disturbing.
They are significant. His long relationship with Wright does matter. It says a lot about Obama himself.
...Wright’s sermons often address themes of white supremacy and black repression, and critics have called them racially divisive.
Some remarks attributed to Wright that have been posted on the Internet and cited in press accounts include:
“Fact number one: We’ve got more black men in prison than there are in college.
“Fact number two: Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run.
“We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns and the training of professional killers. … We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God. … We conducted radiation experiments on our own people. … We care nothing about human life if the ends justify the means.
“And … And … And! God! Has got! To be sick! Of this shit!”
Wright says of Americans: "We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God."
As I said before, that's way beyond controversial. It's hate-mongering, pure and simple.
My question: What has Barack Obama been doing in Wright's church for the past twenty years?
5 comments:
I agree Jeremiah Wright has allowed his anger and disallusionment to get the best of him. But every fact he mentioned is true. America did enslave millions for 400 years. It did rape black little girls and wives and divide families via the auction block, the noose & unjust laws, etc. It did implement laws that disenfranchised a group of people for many, many years. On the whole white america did indeed refuse to allow blacks to worship along side them and thus the creation of the “black” church. Jeremiah Wright is a product of that America.
Many, many black preachers have used the pulpit to speak against injustices. I do agree a lot of Jeremiah Wright's messages are troubling and have gone too far.
I only hope as a nation we can move away from not only sordid deeds but also inflammatory messages of division from both black and white America. I thought that is what Obama is trying to accomplish. He has lived in both worlds and is uniquely qualified through his leadership,insight(read Audacity of Hope) and political savy not only to understand how to heal these hurts, but to bring a compassion to politics we've only heard promised but never materialized in the current administration.
But every fact he mentioned is true.
Wrong.
Do you believe this is an accurate depiction of America?
"We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God."
Is that part of Wright's "social gospel" that Obama finds so attractive?
That's hateful, yet Obama embraces Wright.
Obama calls Wright his spiritual mentor. I didn't give him that label.
Can you imagine if McCain went to a church for 20 YEARS with a pastor spewing this sort of hate directed toward non-whites?
Isn't Obama offended by the things Wright says about his white mother?
Obama can't heal the country until he decries, in specific terms, Wright's brand of hate.
Since Mr. Obama's pastor and spiritual advisor for the past twenty years has been exposed as a hate monger and racist, many are now asking what Obama can do to save his camapign.
NOTHING--STICK A FORK IN HIM, HE IS DONE.
...and I thought he was such a great man....
Has anyone heard of these people Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and/or Mike Huckabee? Well, two of these men publicly spewed the EXACT SAME distaste for america but ALL THREE of them publicly embraced and followed Mr. Francis Schaeffer, white author of the book, “Whatever Happened to the Human Race.”
A white man screams treason, and all is well with america. And what happens when a Black man does the EXACT SAME THING? Lets tie him up and have a lynch party. Hmmm now, that IS the pot calling the kettle black!
It could or should be shameful, but it seems that is the way of america.
We need to re-read Senator Patrick Moynaha's 1965 treatise called “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action”. it was otherwise known as the Two Americas. So much has changed since then, populations, opportunities, times and dates - but the realities remain the same.
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