Posted on 01/25/2007 9:55:36 AM PST by Sam Hill
There has been some recent controversy about Barack Obama's religious background. Mr. Obama has recently issued statements through his spokesmen in the media (i.e., reporters) which express his shock at being questioned about such things.
Most of his media spokesmen (i.e., reporters) have then gone on to cite his membership in Chicago's Trinity United Church Of Christ parish as proof that he is just a regular run of the mill American Christian.
But a visit to the Trinity Church's website proves that it is not your everyday Christian parish:
Trinity United Church of Christ
About Us
We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian... Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain "true to our native land," the mother continent, the cradle of civilization. God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism. It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community.
Trinity United Church of Christ adopted the Black Value System written by the Manford Byrd Recognition Committee chaired by Vallmer Jordan in 1981. We believe in the following 12 precepts and covenantal statements. These Black Ethics must be taught and exemplified in homes, churches, nurseries and schools, wherever Blacks are gathered. They must reflect on the following concepts:
1. Commitment to God
2. Commitment to the Black Community
3. Commitment to the Black Family
4. Dedication to the Pursuit of Education
5. Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence
6. Adherence to the Black Work Ethic
7. Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
8. Disavowal of the Pursuit of "Middleclassness"
9. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the Black Community
10. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting Black Institutions
11. Pledge allegiance to all Black leadership who espouse and embrace the Black Value System
12. Personal commitment to embracement of the Black Value System.
The Pastor as well as the membership of Trinity United Church of Christ is committed to a 10-point Vision:
1. A congregation committed to ADORATION.
2. A congregation preaching SALVATION.
3. A congregation actively seeking RECONCILIATION.
4. A congregation with a non-negotiable COMMITMENT TO AFRICA.
5. A congregation committed to BIBLICAL EDUCATION.
6. A congregation committed to CULTURAL EDUCATION.
7. A congregation committed to the HISTORICAL EDUCATION OF AFRICAN PEOPLE IN DIASPORA.
8. A congregation committed to LIBERATION.
9. A congregation committed to RESTORATION.
10. A congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY.
A visit to the church's bookstore shows they have been true to their word. It is full of (bogus) Afrocentric books, many of which make the usual preposterous Afrocentric claims, such as that Cleopatra was black:
The book store also shamelessly hawks Mr. Osama's books as well:
But Trinity Church's proselytizing doesn't stop with re-writing history and promoting its parishioners.
Here is here is the latest sermon from its pastor, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. (pdf file):
WHATS GOIN ON?
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Marvin Gayes powerful message song is a song that made him famous because it went against the Motown entertainment rule. It raised serious questions about the culture, the country and governmental policy.
His song raised questions about Black-on-Black violence, about drugs, about war and about the way in which we were living (or not living) in a very difficult period of history.
I use his words today on the third Sunday of a New Year to keep before you the painful truth of who we are and where it is we are in this racist United States of America! Whats goin on?
We have lost over 3,000 boys and girls in an illegal and unjust war, and the media is on a feeding frenzy about Barack Obamas church. Where is the outrage about the 3,000 dead American military personnel and the 600,000 dead Iraqi civilians who are dead for no reason other than greed and ego? Whats goin on?
This past Wednesday, January 17th, the House of Representatives deliberated on a bill to cut interest rates on federally subsidized student loans. On Thursday, January 18th, the House of Representatives considered legislation that would repeal some royalties and tax incentives from the oil and gas industries and redistribute that money to alternative and renewable energy such as bio-fuels.
The media, however, is not covering that news. The media wants to know about Barack Obamas pastor. Whats goin on?
On the weekend leading up to Dr. Martin Luther Kings birthday, the House of Representatives passed a bill requiring the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate drug prices for the Medicare program. The President who is staying the course and sending 1,500 more troops to their death has issued a veto threat against the measure and there is no public outcry and no media outrage. Whats goin on?
The President, who is staying the course and sending 21,500 more troops to their death has issued a veto threat against the measure and there is no public outcry and no media outrage.
The Presidents New Plan (more troops, more death and more war) promises an insane escalation in Iraq, Iran and beyond! With the torture of Abu Ghraib, the complete destructions of cities like Fallujah and over 600,000 deaths due to collateral damage, the President complained in his speech that there had been too many restrictions on the actions of the United States Forces in the Iraq war.
The Presidents New Plan (more troops, more death and more war) promises an insane escalation in Iraq, Iran and beyond!
Am I the only one who heard that? Whats goin on?
I celebrate forty years of ordained ministry this weekend. I bask in the 40-year glow of Gods Grace, Gods forgiveness and Gods lessons about humility.
The e-mails that I have been getting this week, the news clippings that I am being sent and the racist blogs that are flooding the Internet make me know, however, that even as I bask, the work ahead for the church of Jesus Christ is just as serious and difficult today (if not more so) as it was forty years ago when I was ordained during the Vietnamese War!
The President tries to frame the justification for his insanity by using language describing the debate in this country over the war as a great struggle between those who believe in freedom in moderation and extremists who kill the innocent.
The reality, however, is that the entire war in Iraq and the larger war on terror have been based on lies, half-truths and distortions to serve the agenda of the United States imperialism. Where is the public outcry? Where is the outrage? Whats goin on?
There is more focus on what the Bears may or may not do as they play a football game against New Orleans than there is on the 3,000 homeless who are still living or displaced in the real life game called New Orleans.
Those poor Black and white displaced citizens of New Orleans (not imported team members playing for New Orleans), who have no place to go and no place to live because of this administrations illegal war and its billions of dollars wasted on prosecuting that war, join with me in asking, Whats goin on?
Excuse me! The victims of Hurricane Katrina are no longer on the radar screen of the media. Only Barack, his church, his pastor and white arrogance!
I invite your sincere prayers this weekend. The generation of ministers behind me has its work cut out for them in some incredible and overwhelming ways!
Sincerely yours,
Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.
So much for the separation of church and state.
Speaking of which, here is what is being promoted at the top of the church's home page as we speak:
MEET SENATOR BARACK OBAMA!!!
On Sunday, January 28th, immediately following the 11:00 a.m. worship service, meet Senator Barack Obama, author of the best-selling book, Audacity of Hope. Purchase your copy of Audacity of Hope in the Akiba Bookstore and have it personally signed by Senator Obama. You do not want to miss this monumental experience!
Where is the ACLU?
BLACK VALUE SYSTEM
Statement of Purpose
We honor Dr. Manford Byrd, our brother in Christ, because of the exemplary manner in which he has thrice withstood the ravage of being denied his earned ascension to the number one position in the Chicago School System. His dedication to the pursuit of excellence despite these systemic denials has inspired the congregation of Trinity United Church of Christ. We have prayerfully called the wisdom of all past generations of suffering Blacks for guidance in fashioning an instrument of Black self-determination, the Black Value System.
And we shall, beginning in 1982, institute an annual Black Value System-Educational Scholarship in the name of Dr. Byrd.
This year, 1981, however, we recognize Dr. Byrd as the first recipient of the Dr. Manford Byrd Award which will be given annually to the man or woman who best exemplifies the Black Value System.
The Black Value System
These Black Ethics must be taught and exampled in homes, churches, nurseries and schools, wherever Blacks are gathered. They must reflect the following concepts:
Commitment of God
The God of our weary years will give us the strength to give up prayerful passivism and become Black Christian Activist, soldiers for Black freedom and the dignity of all humankind.
Commitment to the Black Community
The highest level of achievement for any Black person must be a contribution of substance to the strength and continuity of the Black of the Black Community.
Commitment to the Black Family
The Black family circle must generate strength, stability, and love despite the uncertainty of externals, because these characteristics are required if the developing person is to withstand warping by our racist competitive society.
Those Blacks who are blessed with membership in a strong family unit must reach out and expand that blessing to the less fortunate, especially to the children.
Dedication to the Pursuit of Education
We must forswear anti-intellectualism. Continued survival demands that each Black Person be developed to the utmost of his/her mental potential despite the inadequacies of the formal education process. Real education fosters understanding of ourselves as well as every aspect of our environment. Also it develops within us the ability to fashion concepts and tools for better utilization of our resources, and more effective solutions to our problems. Since the majority of Blacks have been denied such learning, Black Education must include elements that provide high school graduates with marketable skills, a trade or qualifications for apprenticeships, or proper preparation for college.
Basic education for all Blacks should include Mathematics, Science, Logic, General Semantics, Participative Politics, Economics and Finance, and the Care and Nurture of Black minds.
To the extent that we individually reach for, even strain for excellence, we increase, geometrically, the value and resourcefulness of the Black Community. We must recognize the relativity of ones best: this years best can be bettered next year. Such is the language of growth and development. We must seek to excel in every endeavor.
Adherence to the Black Work Ethic
It is becoming harder to find qualified people to work in Chicago Whether this is true or not, it represents one of the many reasons given by businesses and industries for deserting the Chicago area. We must realize that a location with good facilities, adequate transportation and reputation for producing skilled workers will attract industry. We are in competition with other cities, states, and nations for jobs. High productivity must be a goal of the Black workforce.
Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
To accomplish anything worthwhile requires self-discipline. We must be a community of self-disciplined persons, if we are to actualize and utilize our own human resources instead of perpetually submitting to exploitation by others. Self discipline coupled with a respect for self, will enable each of us to be an instrument of Black Progress, and a model for Black Youth.
Disavowal of the Pursuit of Middleclassness
Classic methodology on control of captives teaches that captors must keep the captive ignorant educationally, but trained sufficiently well to serve the system. Also, the captors must be able to identify the talented tenth of those subjugated, especially those who show promise of providing the kind of leadership that might threaten the captors control.
Those so identified as separated from the rest of the people by:
Killing them off directly, and/or fostering a social system that encourages them to kill off one another.
Placing them in concentration camps, and/or structuring an economic environment that induces captive youth to fill the jails and prisons.
Seducing them into a socioeconomic class system which while training them to earn more dollars, hypnotizes them into believing they are better than others and teaches them to think in terms of we and they instead of us.
So, while it is permissible to chase middle-incomeness with all our might, we must avoid the third separation method-the psychological entrapment of Black middleclassness: If we avoid the snare, we will also diminish our voluntary contributions to methods A and B. And more importantly, Black people no longer will be deprived of their birthright, the leadership, resourcefulness, and example of their own talented persons.
Pledge to Make the Fruits of All Developing and Acquired Skills Available to the Black community
Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting Black Institutions.
Pledge Allegiance to all Black Leadership Who Espouse and Embrace The Black Value System.
Personal Commitment to Embracement of the Black Value System - to Measure the Worth and Validity of All Activity in Terms of Positive Contributions to the General Welfare of the Black Community and the Advancement of Black People towards Freedom.
They follow.....
The Nguzo Saba:
The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa
I enjoy Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod). Try it.
Good post. Thanks.
So, Obama and his fellow congregationists are Black Separatists. The flip side of the Aryan Nation.
Looks like Obama is a divider and not a uniter.
Ouch! I wish I could disagree with you. My church in San Antonio (University UMC) is in the minority of UMCs in that it is conservative, focused on the Bible, yet very involved in Habitat for Humanity and other outreach ministries. Of course, we also have 6,000 members and are the largest and fastest-growing church in the conference. Hmmmm - one wonders why we're in the minority...
Switch the word "white" for "black" in this diatribe - and it reads racist.
yep.
Thanks for posting the reality of this racist left wing church.
I'm sure like all left wing organization websites, this data will disappear now that they have been outed.
Thanks to you and Free Republic, it will not disappear.
When you start pointing fingers at people's religions, you're heading down a slippery slope.
You should join the "Church of the Painful Truth" Neil Boortz is the High Priest.
Wow. If that wasn't a "black church" it would be recognized as OBVIOUSLY racist. Good thing only whites can be racist.
So much for MLK's dream.
Unbelievable. I am so tired of the double-standard racism tolerated by Democrats and the MSM. When will this garbage ever end!
"I went to a Methodist service at Easter one year to be with my mother in law. Not one mention of the Resurrection or Our Lord. Wow."
My Mother in Law was a life long Methodist. She attended church regularily until the last 3-4 years of her life,(she lived to be 89).
She basically stopped going to her local Methodist Church after a series of Lesbian and liberal so called ministers.
She requested that her funeral not be held in her church and no Methodist ministers preciding or talking at her funeral. Her wishes were honored, two years ago.
"A black Democrat politician's church is afrocentric, racist and Bush-hating?
Can't tell you how surprised I'm not."
Yawn. This has been going on for years down here. Glad to see you yanks are finally catching up. ;-)
Ya'll don't think that 90+% black vote is a coincidence, do you? Marching orders come from the churches.
Egads!
That's cute, the way the author capitalizes Black, but leaves white lower case.
Just out of curiosity, did you notice any non- Black faces in the congregation?
Martin Luther King's dream is becoming a nightmare. The Black Left is leading people down the road to Hell where they will leave them there. Someday, they may be singing, "We Shall Overcome" from behind the Gates of Socialist Hell.
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