comment by Jerry Gordon

Obama’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. may have been a former Marine and allegedly a noted Biblical scholar, according to Rev. John Thomas, head of the United Church of Christ, but he become Obama’s cross to bear in this fractious 2008 Democratic race this week with his infamous 9/11 Sermon. Pastor Wright’s track record of patent hate, divisiveness, support of post-Colonialist and Islamist causes have been there for all to see. How pusillanimous of Obama and his campaign spinmeisters to denounce his pastor’s comments, but not his pastor. By choosing to make this ’statement’ on Huffington Post, a major leftist liberal blog with peculiar views, sent a message to his ardent groupies that he was with them and not Pastor’s Wright’s critics.

Note this especially egregious comment from Obama:

Obama, a member of the church since the early 1990s, said he would have quit Trinity had such statements been “the repeated tenor of the church. … I wouldn’t feel comfortable there.”

“Reverend Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life,” he wrote. “And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor and to seek justice at every turn.”

And yet:

Obama told MSNBC that he would not repudiate Wright as a man, describing him as “like an uncle” who says something that he disagrees with and must speak out against. He also said he expects his political opponents will use video of the sermons to attack him as the campaign goes on.

But look at what Wright preached recently:

“Barack knows what it means to be a black man to be living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people,” Wright told a cheering congregation. “Hillary can never know that. Hillary ain’t never been called a nigger.”

And note this from UCC head Rev.Thomas in their news release about Wright. It says a lot about the UCC, Thomas and other post-colonialist pastors that many of us have encountered in opposing the views of the UCC on anti-Israel divestment proposals and resolutions of this Protestant denomination.

It also says a lot about playing the race card in America. One wonders what the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have said about this. I’ll wager that if he was alive today, he would have denounced Wright, the UCC leadership and Obama for not representing the beliefs and interests of loyal Afro Americans.

Also Friday, the United Church of Christ issued a 1,400-word statement defending Wright and his “flagship” congregation. The statement lauded Wright’s church for its community service and work to nurture youth and the pastor for speaking out against homophobia and sexism in the black community.

“It’s time for all of us to say no to these attacks and to declare that we will not allow anyone to undermine or destroy the ministries of any of our congregations in order to serve their own narrow political or ideological ends,” John H. Thomas, United Church of Christ’s president, said in the statement.

Jim Hutchens, a critic of where the UCC leadership and many pastors have wandered far from the Sermon on the Mount of Jesus in Matthew 5:14-16. “shining city on the hill” concept of America Imagery espoused by Jonathan Winthrop , one of the founders of the UCC upon arrival in America in 1630 and by the late President Ronald Reagan. Hutchens had this to say in his UCC Truths blog post, entitled:

“UCC leaders serve up lame cover for Wright, Trinity”.

Some UCC insiders might say that the national office is no position to challenge Wright or Trinity since each local church has a level of autonomy. However, UCC leaders have never had a problem chastising other local churches and their leaders when it suited them - particularly conservative churches that considered affiliation with the Evangfelical Association (see September 15, 2005 archive). We also cannot forget Thomas’ angry Gettysburg College speech and other repeated calls to “distinguish loving critics from hurtful ones”. Without doubt, the national office would quickly chastize any local UCC church that would say anything on par of what Jeremiah Wright said if it were directed towards gays and lesbians (as they should). The hypocrisy here is that UCC leaders are not only silent on the actual comments Wright made, they plainly support him and Trinity UCC.

99 percent of UCC ministers would never come close to saying the things that Wright said. This weekend when UCC’ers meet for coffee in their fellowship halls, the topic of Wright and Trinity UCC will come up and most pastors will distance themselves and deflect by claiming that each UCC church is autonomous. This is where the gap between the national office and the pews will be at its greatest.

As for Obama, his statements were both lame and pusillanimous, signifying that he tacitly approves of the Rev. Wright’s Black Nativist views and race card.

But, as noted in a post earlier, Obama’s off the hook, Pastor Wright conveniently retired from the Trinity UCC pulpit back in mid-January.

Here’s Obama’s comment on this segue:

“With Reverend Wright’s retirement and the ascension of my new pastor, Rev. Otis Moss III, Michelle and I look forward to continuing a relationship with a church that has done so much good,” he wrote.

C’mon Obama. This is a church whose pastor and national leadership preaches hate, divisiveness, disloyalty and alignment with foreign Islamist interests seeking to overthrow the Judeo Christian ethos. I would trust that most Americans will vote this November to deny you access to the highest office in the land. This is a country that has given you and your wife Michelle, opportunities, unparalleled anywhere else in this world, and you both choose to disavow the land that made your rise to national prominence possible. That’s ungrateful and churlish for people so highly educated and accomplished to espouse. It also trashes on the common sense and goodness of all Americans who expect better from potential national leaders.

By Nedra Pickler, Associated Press Writer, March 15, 2008

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday denounced inflammatory remarks from his pastor, who has railed against the United States and accused the country of bringing on the Sept. 11 attacks by spreading terrorism.

Obama called the statements appearing on television and the Internet “completely unacceptable and inexcusable” in a Fox News interview and said they didn’t reflect the kinds of sermons he had heard from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright while attending services at Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ.

Obama, a member of the church since the early 1990s, said he would have quit Trinity had such statements been “the repeated tenor of the church. … I wouldn’t feel comfortable there.”

Earlier Friday, Obama responded by posting a blog about his relationship with Wright and Trinity on the Huffington Post. Wright brought Obama to Christianity, officiated at his wedding, baptized his daughters and inspired the title of his book, “The Audacity of Hope.”

Obama wrote that he’s looked to Wright for spiritual advice, not political guidance, and he’s been pained and angered to learn of some of his pastor’s comments for which he had not been present. Obama told MSNBC that Wright had stepped down from his campaign’s African American Religious Leadership Committee.

“I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies,” Obama said in his blog posting. “I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it’s on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Reverend Wright that are at issue.”

In a sermon on the Sunday after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Wright suggested the United States brought on the attacks.

“We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye,” Wright said. “We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.”

In a 2003 sermon, he said blacks should condemn the United States.

“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.”

He also gave a sermon in December comparing Obama to Jesus, promoting his candidacy and criticizing his rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“Barack knows what it means to be a black man to be living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people,” Wright told a cheering congregation. “Hillary can never know that. Hillary ain’t never been called a nigger.”

Obama told MSNBC that he would not repudiate Wright as a man, describing him as “like an uncle” who says something that he disagrees with and must speak out against. He also said he expects his political opponents will use video of the sermons to attack him as the campaign goes on.

Questions about Obama’s religious beliefs have dogged him throughout his candidacy. He’s had to fight against false Internet rumors suggesting he’s really a Muslim intent on destroying the United States, and now his pastor’s words uttered nearly seven years ago have become an issue.

Obama wrote on the Huffington Post that he never heard Wright say any of the statements, but he acknowledged that they have raised legitimate questions about the nature of his relationship with the pastor and the church. He wrote that he joined Wright’s church nearly 20 years ago, familiar with the pastor’s background as a former Marine and respected biblical scholar who lectured at seminaries across the country.

“Reverend Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life,” he wrote. “And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor and to seek justice at every turn.”

He said Wright’s controversial statements first came to his attention at the beginning of his presidential campaign last year, and he condemned them. Because of his long and deep ties to the 6,000-member congregation church, Obama said he decided not to leave.

“With Reverend Wright’s retirement and the ascension of my new pastor, Rev. Otis Moss III, Michelle and I look forward to continuing a relationship with a church that has done so much good,” he wrote.

Also Friday, the United Church of Christ issued a 1,400-word statement defending Wright and his “flagship” congregation. The statement lauded Wright’s church for its community service and work to nurture youth and the pastor for speaking out against homophobia and sexism in the black community.

“It’s time for all of us to say no to these attacks and to declare that we will not allow anyone to undermine or destroy the ministries of any of our congregations in order to serve their own narrow political or ideological ends,” John H. Thomas, United Church of Christ’s president, said in the statement.

C’mon Obama. Doing good by spreading hate and divisiveness, to say nothing of disloyalty. If that is what you espouse then I hope that you will be denied access to the highest office in the land, the Presidency in November.

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