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Barack Obama, His Pastor, and What it All Means…

Orginally published on Sunday, March 16, 2008 at 10:55 PM
by Todd Rhoades

I'm sure by now, many of you have seen the much aired videos of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's pastor from Chicago. According to an ABCNews story, The Rev. Wright has a long history of what even Obama’s campaign aides concede is “inflammatory rhetoric,” including the assertion that the United States brought on the 9/11 attacks with its own “terrorism.” In a campaign appearance earlier this month, Sen. Obama said, “I don’t think my church is actually particularly controversial.” He said Rev. Wright “is like an old uncle who says things I don’t always agree with,” telling a Jewish group that everyone has someone like that in their family.

An ABC News review of dozens of Rev. Wright’s sermons, offered for sale by the church, found repeated denunciations of the U.S. based on what he described as his reading of the Gospels and the treatment of black Americans.

“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,” he said in a 2003 sermon. “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 addition to damning America, he told his congregation on the Sunday after Sept. 11, 2001 that the United States had brought on al Qaeda’s attacks because of its own terrorism.

“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,” Rev. Wright said in a sermon on Sept. 16, 2001.

“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,” he told his congregation.

Sen. Obama told the New York Times he was not at the church on the day of Rev. Wright’s 9/11 sermon. “The violence of 9/11 was inexcusable and without justification,” Obama said in a recent interview. “It sounds like he was trying to be provocative,” Obama told the paper.

Rev. Wright, who announced his retirement last month, has built a large and loyal following at his church with his mesmerizing sermons, mixing traditional spiritual content and his views on contemporary issues.

“I wouldn’t call it radical. I call it being black in America,” said one congregation member outside the church last Sunday.

“He has impacted the life of Barack Obama so much so that he wants to portray that feeling he got from Rev. Wright onto the country because we all need something positive,” said another member of the congregation.

MORE HERE...

Here is just one of the videos circulating on YouTube.com with over 172k hits so far:

My question to you… what do you think of this whole story?  Will it hurt Obama?  And has it changed your opinion on his candidacy?

How big of an issue will this be?  Will it be huge, or will it just go away?

I’d love your input.


This post has been viewed 2372 times so far.



  There are 70 Comments:

  • Posted by

    I heard a funny joke on the radio about this.  Kind of an aural pun, so you’ll have to say it out loud:

    What do you get if Barack wins the presidency?

    You get an Obama Nation.

    What do you get if Clinton wins the presidency?

    You get an abomination.

    Get it?

    --
    CS

  • Posted by Joe Louthan
  • Posted by Peter Hamm

    I think he totally adequately distances himself from Wright’s comments.

  • Posted by Todd Rhoades

    Really?  I’m just wondering how he could attend and be a member for 20 years, and have him as a personal mentor for that long without knowing these extreme views.  I think it will hurt him in the long term; but am surprised it came out now, rather then during the general election.

    You’ll notice that the Clinton camp isn’t touching this one with a ten foot pole.  smile

    Todd

  • Posted by kent

    This issue has driven me nuts. The words are the pastors, not Obama’s. Obama distances himself from things he has not said! I am not supporting Obama but this is just ridiculous. The networks have too much time and not enough substance so they go off and gather material like this. Argghhhh.

  • Posted by

    Obama, the consummate politician, quite un-offensively distances himself from J. Wright. IMHO he should not try to be so polite and kind to Mr Wright. He should stand up straight and loudly denounce those totally racist comments. Racism is racism, no matter from where in the color spectrum it originates. 

    And stop with the “social gospel” Mr. Obama. I know of only one Gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If Mr. Wright had been preaching the Gospel of Jesus, then he wouldn’t be preaching hate and using the rhetoric of white vs. black.  Jesus loves people of ALL colors and backgrounds, you know, the “whosoevers” of John 3:16. When you set up strife between believers of different racial backgrounds, you divide the kingdom.  Our goal as Christians should be to untie as many people under the banner of Christ as we can.

    Mr. Obama, tell us where you really stand.

  • Posted by bishopdave

    Todd: “Really?  I’m just wondering how he could attend and be a member for 20 years, and have him as a personal mentor for that long without knowing these extreme views.”

    If your mentors heartfelt convictions are so far from your own, why has he been your mentor? Isn’t part of mentoring modeling? It’s one thing to be endorsed by Farrakahn or Hagee or whatever; it’s a whole other issue to have a MENTORING relationship. In south Texas, the older ones have a proverb: tell me who you walk with and I’ll tell you who you are.

    I think it’s a very valid issue. Being his mentor, as a voter I feel anyone’s mentor--McCain’s, Clinton’s, Todd’s--would be in their circle of influence, the people whose voices are listened to.

  • Posted by Peter Hamm

    I have served relatively long-term (on a volunteer basis) in churches where I had some real disagreements with the pastor in areas of politics and/or theology. I didn’t leave and try and find some place where I agree with my pastor on everything.

    It’s not so unusual.

  • Posted by

    I understand the feelings that give rise to such comments and am not so quick to jump all over either the pastor for saying them, the church for applauding them or Obama for continuing to be a part of that faith community.  I hear things from my pastor from time to time that I don’t concur with but I belong to that congregation and most of the time the pastor speaks in ways that build my faith and commitment to Christ.  This is just another failure of one segment of Americans to understand the experiences and feelings of another segment.  The polarization is fed by a determination to discredit rather than to listen and empathize with one another.  I hope the posts on this blog don’t drive the wedge deeper.

  • Posted by jhenrywaugh

    I don’t know, Pastor Wright’s excerpts are not much different than Luke 6:24 IMV:

    Damn you rich!  You already have your compensation.

    Damn you who are well-fed!  You will know hunger.

    Damn you who laugh now!  You will weep and grieve.

    Damn you when everybody speaks well of you!

    Oh, OK, it’s “Woe to you” in modern translations… …I think this “controversy” is another vivid illustration of how much American Exceptionalism has seeped into American Christians, and how they hold up an idol of nationalism.

    Nothing was untrue in Wright’s comments - while I don’t agree with him on all the things said, he’s not incorrect in pointing out America moral failings on slavery, genocide of native American, imperial follies, segregation, the 100+ year campaign of terrorism waged against non-white individuals after those Americans were supposedly granted Constitutional freedoms, etc.…

    Unfortunately, most Americans breadth of history is limited to jingoistic bromides.

    No doubt, my post will be tagged as “America hater” but I love my country, I just recognize that its far from perfect, and while not barbaric as the Roman empire of Jesus time, it’s a far cry from the model Jesus gave his followers.

  • Posted by

    I apologize if anything I said in my earlier post was seen as driving the wedge deeper. May it never be! I am step-dad to racially mixed children and know full well the pain of being rejected because of skin color.

    I was trying to say that the focus of church pastors and teachers should be on Jesus and let the Lord develop His love within each of us.

    You can have your social opinions about who is at fault for what, but keep it out of the church other than to say, we’re all sinners in need of grace. If we need grace and expect to get it, we should be quick to give it.

  • Posted by

    My pastor during my youth and most of adult life was a wonderful, benevolent tyrant (now in heaven).  Though he was always prone to being “on-the-edge,” as he got older, he would say and do things that often had us scratching our heads, sometimes hiding our faces.  Because ours was a large and influential church in the community, the media would seek him out and sometimes his inappropriate comments found their way into the public forum.  If I had been running for office, I’d have had to distance myself too.  People link you to someone, and although we know better, we juxtapose all that person’s views on us.  Distancing myself wouldn’t change the influence my pastor had on my in my formative years.  Someone can mentor us in some areas, while we still disagree strongly about others.

    I agree that Obama appropriately distanced himself, though the association might hurt him.  We should remember that after 9/11 there were some comments from well known evangelicals that we would be distancing ourselves from if we were running for office.  A candidate who is a member of Thomas Road would be facing the same problem, right?

    And I so agree with Dean.  Let’s not jump to discrediting, but try to listen to people whose shoes we’ve not walked in.  Assuming that these kind of comments come from actual experiences I cannot possible identify with doesn’t make me agree with them, it is just extending grace to that side and prevents polarization.  Isn’t that a better posture?

    Wendi

  • Posted by

    Switching to a more serious gear here from my last post. 

    In all honesty, when Obama uses the Sermon on The Mount as a means of granting liberty to homosexual marriage, and refers to Romans 1 as, “An obscure passage in Romans,” when speaking about the same topic, I wonder where else his pastor’s theological and hermeneutics styling may have influenced Obama’s mind.  Just like Todd said, “I’m just wondering how he could attend and be a member for 20 years, and have him as a personal mentor for that long without knowing these extreme views. “

    --
    CS

  • Posted by Matt

    My question is: Would if it would have been John Mccain, associated with Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church? He wouldn’t even be in the presidential race any more. If you don’t know this church, their website is http://www.godhatesfags.com.

  • Posted by

    Looking at this from another angle, my question is:

    How is it that Rev. Wright, from the pulpit during a public worship service, and in the midst of a presidential election campaign, can so directly and unabashedly endorse one candidate by name (Obama) while villifying two others by name (Hillary) and unmistakable inference (Bush) and yet in all this controversy and dialogue that has resulted all over the media, no one is questioning Rev. Wright’s clear endorsement of a specific political candidate from the pulpit as the church’s pastor or the effect this could or arguably should have on that church’s tax-exempt status?

    Yet, if a conservative evangelical dares to say something as innocuous and legal as “go to the polls and vote according to Biblical values”, the media, ACLU and gov’t are ‘all over it’!  Hmmmm.

  • Posted by Eric Joppa

    I have a friend and mentor that was my pastor before I began vocational ministry. He has had an enormous role in the shaping of my theology and walk with Christ. While I don’t agree with everything he says or thinks, we share a like mind on the important things.

    The statements Obama’s pastor makes are what I would call important. And I must agree with CS. If his understanding of scripture has come from Wright, than he must have some similar thinking regarding the other issues.

    While he has distanced himself from the comments, he has not distanced himself from the man. I believe his allegiance to his mentor is deeper than he wants people to think. His true convictions will come out if he gets into office.

    And that is really scary.

    -E

  • Posted by

    We are supposed to hear the gospel truth when we go to church. Proverbs says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. This pastor’s heart certainly did not show God’s love! Jesus said to love even our enemies and to pray for those who need the Lord. Also I can’t even imagine using God’s name in vain from the pulpit. Have you ever heard that done? Would you go to that person to grow spiritually? I think we all need to pray for this congregation...As far as Oboma how can any follower of Jesus stand behind the Democratic party which consists of ungodly agendas from abortion and homosexual marriages to seperation of God and our country? Somebody ought to remind them that the truth of every matter is God. He created everything! We can’t seperate God from His creation! We all need to pray for our country and not judge people but call good, good and bad, bad. We can all hate sin and still love the sinner…

  • Posted by

    I am sure that all of us have had people in our lives that have had meaningful impact, with whom we do not agree on every subject.  My parents come to mind, but isnt there a point at which we can love them and even in some ways respect but because of their hatred we have to remove ourselves from their sphere of influence because we should not give them our seal of approval.  While Jesus hung with publicans and sinners he did not hang with the pharisees. 
    The reason I could not vote for someone like Obama is his lack of exprience.  Charisma is not a job qualification for POTUS.

  • Posted by

    I can’t believe so many people are giving Obama a free pass on this one.  His pastor said that the government created and spread the HIV virus as a form of genocide against people of color!  OK First, that is absolutely baseless and inflamatory.  But even worse, it’s just crazy.  It’s paraniod, delusional insanity.  And, unless that pastor made a full and complete retraction of those remarks Obama should be ethically and morally obligated to disengage and disassociate in a loud and clear voice and say to the American people that this is the worst kind of hate speech and fear mongering that has come from any segment of our society.  So until there is an apology and a retraction from Rev. Wright he should be obligated to break his relationship with this man if we are to begin to trust that Obama is a man willing to represent all of the American people.  Even rich white ones.

  • Posted by

    PT well said.

    There are some other facts not addressed here.  The quotes in the article are just a few of many, many sermons where the same things have been said.  World Net Daily has had the sermon links and transcripts for over a week.  Suddenly when the main stream press gets a hold of a handful, the ministry site gets scrubbed and now you can’t get them.  The truth is he has been saying things for 20 years that are not just inflammatory, but racist, anti-semitic, divisive and perpetuate myths.  Obama can’t claim he wasn’t there for this sermon or that and not know what this man has been preaching. He’s been doing it for two decades.

    Secondly, and this is very important- up until 2 days ago, Rev. Wright was an official member of the Obama campaign, and his “retirement” or sabbatical until May as the church said, was specifically to travel, counsel and mentor Obama on the campaign trail until the nomination is clearly decided.  This is a much closer relationship than being “associated” with someone you don’t always agree with.  Obama had him fired and not because of what came to light, but because he knows full good and well that it will damage his campaign.  So either Obama is making a savy decision at the expense of a long time friend, or he is trying cover up his deeper relationoship with this pastor.  Either way, it shows he is willing to do ANYTHING to get elected and the media gives him a pass.

  • Posted by Rob D.

    Here is the real, “dirty” little secret… this stuff that Jeremiah Wright is seen on video preaching..... has been for years and years propagated in the black community.... I know this for a fact because I have heard this “craziness” personally attested to as being true! To me THAT is the bigger problem! We have a significant portion of the population (be it in the church or outside of the church) of the United States that believes that the things that Jeremiah Wright is seen on video preaching are factually accurate! Now I am not saying everyone in the black community believes this stuff but there are definitely more than a few… but it is really tough to have an conversation with someone about government or public policy when they begin the conversation absolutely convinced that that same government is seeking to covertly, systematically engage in a holocaust against the ethnic group that they are part of.

  • Posted by Paul J.

    It strains common sense to think that he could be close to this man for twenty years and NOT know some of the things he says. In addition...Oprah used to go to that church, and left because of the Reverend’s subject matter. Obama wouldn’t have heard about THAT?

  • Posted by

    Paul:

    “Oprah used to go to that church, and left because of the Reverend’s subject matter.”

    I think she really left because she realized that she was a goddess herself, after hearing her recently with Eckhard Tolle and her “Course in Miracles.”

    I say that tongue-in-cheek, mind you.  =)

    --
    CS

  • Posted by

    I am not surprised by Wright’s comments, neither am I surprised by Obama’s association with him.  I attended Colgate Rochester Divinity School in 1980-83, while earning a D.Min. in “Family Ministry”, and this type of racist rhetoric was rampant there.  The hatred under the guise of black liberation theology wasn’t just down with America, it even went to the degree where one dissertation was written by one student who instructed those who wanted to liberate Puerto Rico from the U.S. influence by teaching them how to conduct terrorism against innocent civilians to acheive that end.  The dissertation included teaching people how to create public hysteria by planting car bombs among the public in public places like post offices, schools, etc., the assasination of public officials and significant private individuals, and this was all under the guise of black liberation theology.  Needless to say, once you open the door to hatred, there is no end to what one will justify to achieve its end: hatred is hatred under any lable. 

    What does this have to do with Barak Hussein Obama?  There is an old proverb: “birds of a feather flock together.” Plus, “bad company always corrupts good morals.” There are differences we all have with teachers, Pastors, and mentors, but hatred is hatred any way you slice it, and to think that a man who has attended this church, and said it was like “coming home” when he first started attending, is one who can’t have much of a problem with hate speech. 
    Yet, I also heard at Colgate that blacks can’t be racist, because they are black-only whites can be racists.  So, do we really want to overlook this man’s history and beliefs, since the only way to predict a man’s future decisions is to look at the way he has conducted his life to this point?  I don’t think so. 

    When I look at pictures of him where he refuses to cross his heart during the National Anthem while the flag is being raised, and his wife only recently said she’s not ashamed of America, it is easy to see that he isn’t too far off from Wright’s opinions. 

    I do not say these things pretending that America is without faults and problems, some were tragic in scope.  Yet, for anyone who has traveled out of the country, America, even with its problems, is not equaled anywhere else in the world.  However, if Obama, or Clinton get into office, there policies of “fair speech”, homosexual marriage, hate speech crimes, are all aimed at one group of people-conservative, Christians.  Plus, they are absolutely against the “Bill of Rights” that the Founding Fathers recognized that Scripture established as a right for all human beings.  Under the Clinton/ Obama America, free speech and the open debate of ideas will be controlled by the government’s idea of what is appropriate and sanctioned.  Under there administrations, Christian radio, Christian television, the right to teach your children at home Biblical standards will all be shut down under the guise of equal time for opposing views.  I know many don’t think this is possible, but those in England are starting to awaken to the criminal penalties for parents teaching their children that homosexuality is sin, and this is the “culturalism” that Clinton and Obama have in mind for the American Church, as well.

  • Posted by

    Steve Snyder said: “...how can any follower of Jesus stand behind the Democratic party which consists of ungodly agendas from abortion and homosexual marriages to seperation of God and our country?”

    By that same rational, how can any follower of Jesus stand behind the Republican party which clearly ignores social justice issues such as feeding the poor and standing up for those who have been marginalized by society - clearly things that Jesus commanded us to do? There are good and bad issues on both sides.

    It is my guess that most of the people who have commented on this post against Reverend Wright are Caucasian (please accept my apologies if I am wrong) and possess little or no understanding of what it means to be of African-American decent in this country. I am not saying that I agree or disagree with any of Reverend Wright’s statements, but what I am saying is that all that one has to do is open an American History textbook to gain some insight as to where these comments may be derived from. It is unsettling to me that our collective eyes are still closed to the issue of the ongoing effects of slavery and racism against minorities in America. Aside from Reverend Wright’s comments (which, by the way, I don’t really find to be racist as some on this post have suggested - in fact, regarding his comment on the moral failures of America ["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.”], I have heard the same type of comments coming from “white” churches albeit with perhaps less inflammatory language), I think that, in order to be fair to Reverend Wright and to have a broader picture of who he is and of the church that he pastors, there should be more of an effort to look into Trinity United Church of Christ’s very extensive ministry to the community in which it serves http://www.tucc.org/ministries.htm - which has been championed and seen to fruition under the leadership of Reverend Wright.

    I think that we as followers of Christ should stop focusing on political affiliations, which are temporary anyway, and start focusing on actually doing what Jesus said to do - which in my opinion TUCC is doing an exceptional job of. Many churches could learn from its example.

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