Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama on Friday denounced inflammatory remarks from his pastor, who has ranted against the United States and accused the country of bringing on the Sept. 11 attacks by spreading terrorism. Senator 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 Reverend Jeremiah Wright while attending services at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Obama, who has been 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, Senator Obama responded by posting a blog about his relationship with Reverend Wright and Trinity on the Huffington Post. It was Wright who brought Obama to Christianity, turned the young agnostic into an avid churchgoer who often peppers his speeches with references from his Christian faith; Wright officiated at his wedding, baptized his daughters. Senator Obama's 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention that thrust him onto the national stage was based on a 1988 sermon by Wright called "The Audacity of Hope," which is also the title of Obama's latest book outlining his hopes to change US politics. 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. Senator 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."
In January, Reverend Wright spoke from the pulpit in praise of Obama's leadership, comparing his campaign to Jesus's struggles under 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." He went on: "Hillary ain't never been called a nigger. Hillary has never had a people defined as a non-person." Wright also took issue with the idea that Bill Clinton was a friend to Black people. "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."
Senator 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 Senator 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 has 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 congregation, Senator Obama said he decided not to leave. Trinity's present congregation of more than 8,500 now draws followers from both nearby public housing projects and the Who's Who of the Black community, including celebrities like Oprah Winfrey. "With Reverend Wright's retirement and the ascension of my new pastor, Reverend Otis Moss III, Michelle and I look forward to continuing a relationship with a church that has done so much good," he wrote. Wright, who recently preached his last sermon as he heads into retirement at age 66, has long expected that his controversial views might become a problem for the candidate. After nearly two decades serving as a mentor and moral guide to Senator Barack Obama, Reverend Jeremiah Wright may become his biggest liability as he closes in on the Democratic nomination.
Such disputes are not exclusive to the Democrats. Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee, is under pressure to repudiate a televangelist supporter, the Reverend Rod Parsley, who has spoken of a clash of civilizations between Islam and Christianity and also Reverend John Hagee who called the Catholic Church the mother of all cults. Sound like pastors should concentrate more of saving souls and less time on politics. The United Church of Christ issued a 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.
I applaud Senator Obama for staying with the church even if it comes down to costing him the nomination or the presidency after all the Word of God says what good is it for a man to gain the world and lose his soul. I saw the video of Minister Wright’s sermon from January on YouTube last night and immediately said that this is going to be TROUBLE. You know the Clinton campaign is so happy to get the past few days of heat off them. I pray that Senator Obama's campaign survives the heat that will come from this.
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