Posted on 04/30/2008 2:50:50 AM PDT by Stoat
April 30, 2008 --
ALBANY - The Rev. Jeremiah Wright would be happy to see Barack Obama's presidential campaign derailed because the pastor is fuming that his former congregant has "betrayed" their 20-year relationship,
The Post has learned. "After 20 years of loving Barack like he was a member of his own family, for Jeremiah to see Barack saying over and over that he didn't know about Jeremiah's views during those years, that he wasn't familiar with what Jeremiah had said, that he may have missed church on this day or that and didn't hear what Jeremiah said, this is seen by Jeremiah as nonsense and betrayal," said the source, who has deep roots in Wright's Chicago community and is familiar with his thinking on the matter.
"Jeremiah is trying to defend his congregation and the work of his ministry by saying what he is saying now," the source added.
"Jeremiah doesn't care if he derails Obama's candidacy or not . . . He knows what he's doing. Obviously, he's not a dumb man. He knows he's not helping."
The source spoke yesterday about Wright's motivation for thrusting himself back into the news, the day after the pastor appeared at the National Press Club on Monday and embarrassed Obama by accusing the United States of terrorism.
Wright has said the reason he has begun granting interviews and making public appearances now is that he wants to defend black churches.
But the source said the preacher's motivation is much more personal.
(Edited to comply with Free Republic posting requirements)
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Essential videos, thanks very much for posting.
For most people, it requires a severe head injury or a series of drug overdoses to become THAT loony.
For “Rev” Wright, it seems to come naturally.
Some people are just lucky....
“chortle”
His numbers started going down when it was clear the Wright story wasn’t going away and was making SD nervous. He needed a reason to come out and denounce the guy because his first speech didn’t do the job. He couldn’t just come out of the blue and suddenly denounce him when the man hadn’t publicly said anything else. He had absolutely no other choice.
The number decline got precipitous after Wright’s latest appearances. If Wright had stayed in the background the issue would have faded.
I have heard that but I also heard she invited the Rev. to this event 2 years ago. So she's either a fortune teller or damn lucky it played out the way it has.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/30/america/30obama.php?page=2
“I am a strong believer of the Islamic faith,” Ms. Obama, 85, said in a recent interview in Kenya.
From Skepticism to Belief
This polyglot background made Mr. Obama tolerant of others’ faiths yet reluctant to join one, said Mr. Wright, the pastor. In an interview in March in his office, filled with mementos from his 35 years at Trinity, Mr. Wright recalled his first encounters with Mr. Obama in the late 1980s, when the future senator was organizing Chicago neighborhoods. Though minister after minister told Mr. Obama he would be more credible if he joined a church, he was not a believer.
“I remained a reluctant skeptic, doubtful of my own motives, wary of expedient conversion, having too many quarrels with God to accept a salvation too easily won,” he wrote in his first book, “Dreams From My Father.”
Still, Mr. Obama was entranced by Mr. Wright, whose sermons fused analysis of the Bible with outrage at what he saw as the racism of everything from daily life in Chicago to American foreign policy. Mr. Obama had never met a minister who made pilgrimages to Africa, welcomed women leaders and gay members and crooned Teddy Pendergrass rhythm and blues from the pulpit. Mr. Wright was making Trinity a social force, initiating day care, drug counseling, legal aid and tutoring. He was also interested in the world beyond his own; in 1984, he traveled to Cuba to teach Christians about the value of nonviolent protest and to Libya to visit Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, along with the Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Mr. Wright said his visits implied no endorsement of their views.
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Followers were also drawn simply by Mr. Wright’s appeal. Trinity has 8,500 members today, making it the largest American congregation in the United Church of Christ, a mostly white denomination known for the independence of its congregations and its willingness to experiment with traditional Protestant theology.
Mr. Wright preached black liberation theology, which interprets the Bible as the story of the struggles of black people, whom by virtue of their oppression are better able to understand Scripture than those who have suffered less. That message can sound different to white audiences, said Dwight Hopkins, a professor at University of Chicago Divinity School and a Trinity member. “Some white people hear it as racism in reverse,” Dr. Hopkins said, while blacks hear, “Yes, we are somebody, we’re also made in God’s image.”
Audacity and Hope
It was a 1988 sermon called “The Audacity to Hope” that turned Mr. Obama, in his late 20s, from spiritual outsider to enthusiastic churchgoer. Mr. Wright in the sermon jumped from 19th-century art to his own youthful brushes with crime and Islam to illustrate faith’s power to inspire underdogs. Mr. Obama was seeing the same thing in public housing projects where poor residents sustained themselves through sheer belief.
In “Dreams From My Father,” Mr. Obama described his teary-eyed reaction to the minister’s words. “Inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones,” Mr. Obama wrote. “Those stories — of survival, and freedom, and hope — became our story, my story.”
Mr. Obama was baptized that year, and joining Trinity helped him “embrace the African-American community in a way that was whole and profound,” said Ms. Soetoro, his half sister.
It also helped give him spiritual bona fides and a new assurance. Services at Trinity were a weekly master class in how to move an audience. When Mr. Obama arrived at Harvard Law School later that year, where he fortified himself with recordings of Mr. Wright’s sermons, he was delivering stirring speeches as a student leader in the classic oratorical style of the black church.
But he developed a tone very different from his pastor’s. In contrast with Mr. Wright — the kind of speaker who could make a grocery list sound like a jeremiad — Mr. Obama speaks with cool intellect and on-the-one-hand reasoning. He tends to emphasize the reasonableness of all people; Mr. Wright rallies his parishioners against oppressors.
While Mr. Obama stated his opposition to the Iraq war in conventional terms, Mr. Wright issued a “War on Iraq I.Q. Test,” with questions like, “Which country do you think poses the greatest threat to global peace: Iraq or the U.S.?”
In the 16 years since Mr. Obama returned to Chicago from Harvard, Mr. Wright has presided over his wedding ceremony, baptized his two daughters and dedicated his house, while Mr. Obama has often spoken at Trinity’s panels and debates. Though the Obamas drop in on other congregations, they treat Trinity as their spiritual home, attending services frequently. The church’s Afrocentric focus makes Mr. Obama a figure of particular authenticity there, because he has the African connections so many members have searched for.
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Riverside Church is pro abortion, for that matter so are most of the black Churches in this country, but lets be fare because a lot of white Churches are also. It is inconsistent at best, to use the term Christian and abortion in the same lite.
Someone will say, how do you know they are pro abortion? We have been having this conversation for years in this country. Every body knows full well that a vote for any Democrat is a vote for liberal judges, hence that makes you pro abortion.
When they vote democrat it means they are for abortion, homosexuality, taking the Bible and prayer out of the class room etc, I could go on and on.
Jesus loved children, he says he formed us each in the womb, there is no argument to be made otherwise. When a person votes democrat they are saying they are for all those things... case closed. Now many Republicans are in the same boat.
Rev Write was asked if he believes the scripture ...I am the way the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but through me? He said there is another way. Add that to the fact that he is pro abortion and that he is for democrat judges that represent everything that the Bible and Jesus are against...it is not a Christian Church but a social club. Not to mention that he bares false witness against President Bush and others.
My point is this....Obama and Write are both phonies, but so are all pro abortion Churches regardless of the color.
You know, I actually felt sorry for Obama yesterday, like I did for Bill Clinton the day Monica story broke. Then I remembered what Obama thought about me and what he was planning to do to me and my family and the country and I thought 'God works in mysterious ways'.
All this fussing and fighting between Obama and Wright seems contrived.
One of two things is going on here:
** Either Obama and Wright are hoaxsters
or
**Hildabeast and Bubba have given Wright some baubles to make an idiot of himself at Obama's expense.
Why would a righteous pastor take money from his flock to build a million dollar mansion when there are so many poor Black people that he could help? Not to mention the fact that his flock looks to be middle class families who could use their money for their own children.
Wright is a fraud.
And, I know Obama hasn't been baptized a Christian.
“LMAO :-)
It seems that they are taking turns driving the bus over each other :-)”
Hey, friend— I don’t know where all this idiocy is going to lead us, but it sure is entertaining.
Also they where both asked if creation should be tought in schools or should it just be evolution? They both replied evolution only.
The term “Christian Democrat” is a oxymoron.
It just doesn’t get much better than this.
I'm delighted that you've found it to be worthwhile :-)
If this is an elaborate song and dance to help out Obama, as some seem to think, then it seems like a very stupid one. I'm inclined to take this article at it's face value.
Agreed. As usual, the simpler explanations tend to make the most sense.
Occam's Razor, and all.....
In relation, has anyone heard anything in regards to this little nugget at The Corner? Very interesting too, if true.
I've heard it discussed on the radio talk shows today, and at the moment Drudge is linking to opposing articles on the subject, here again:
PAPER- Enthusiastic Hillary Supporter ORGANIZED Rev. Wright at Press Club...
Press Club- Wright event NOT arranged by Clinton camp...
As with anything connected even tenuously with the Clintons, the full truth of the matter will never be known :-)
The proof will be in what Happens now with Wright.How is Wright going to react to Obama ,Will he call him a Liar by saying Obama has known exactly who he was for 20 years and has been Lying to the Public for his own benefit or will he just fade away and try to make people think that Obama really is just dicovering Wrights true feelings to save his Butt
The proof will be in what Happens now with Wright.How is Wright going to react to Obama ,Will he call him a Liar by saying Obama has known exactly who he was for 20 years and has been Lying to the Public for his own benefit or will he just fade away and try to make people think that Obama really is just dicovering Wrights true feelings to save his Butt
If Obama didn’t know what Wright believed after all this time he is an imbecile. He made a deal with the devil to get a political power base and now those chickens really are coming home to roost.
Right on target IMO!
Obama has either betrayed a good friend and confident for political amibition (and will be even more likely to betrayed those of us he doesn't even know)...or this is a carefully orchestrated ruse.
Either option is deadly for the U.S.
I'd like to add to your thought stream.
George Neumeyr's and Lisa Fabrizio's at AmSpec today are must reads, IMO.
There are many others, I could recommend at length; and parsing out all I've read today, one single thought emerges, and it is ultimately, I think where each of the authors' has headed.
This from Fabrizio's:
***snip Here's one from Cone's book, A Black Theology of Liberation:
Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community....Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.
***end snip
From the get-go of learning of Wright's Wrants, Obama did not come full-bore on to defend the Black Liberation Theology of Wright. Wright gave him time to "repent". Michelle's comments bought Obama time, if not credit. The more that Wrights Wrants came to public knowledge, the less Obama defended the black separatist theology. Wright therefore practiced what he preached -- he actively worked to (from Black Theology, above quote) "to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community", as in, killing the "Messiah, Obama".
Obviously, Black Liberation Theology is fascist in method. It kills its own "black members" if they do not personally and publically uphold the "black church". When a black member does not uphold the "black church"; the "old testament" style Black Separatist God of retribution arrives. Metaphysically, perhaps Hitler and his pure race theory could have started at this point so long ago.
His theory was that were there one race, and only one race, we could finally get beyond the race issues. Appears Black Liberation Theology is not so different. While Black Liberation Theology began with religion, it incorporated race. Hitler began with race, an incorporated religion. This seems to me to be a decisive difference in method.
I was keenly attentive when Wright gave his Wrant about white/black cranial differences. First off, there's the obvious inherent racism -- my next thought was about Obama being black and white -- that Wright was blasting Obama saying: Boy, you can't help yourself, your brain is at war with you -- being of mixed race. And the Wright Ogre smiled, after making this proclamation to approval by the NAACP and the guests in attendance, I surmise.
Many of Hitler's men went to Latin America, escaping being caught and prosecuted. And where did Black Liberation Theology come from? Latin America -- where any mix including Indian is considered "less than equal" by the supreme powers that be. So bad is it in South America, the word "quotas" has left people dead in the streets, for and against.
Now, back to Obama. Yes, for 20 years he ingested Black Supremacy under the tutelege of Jeremiah Wright.
BO disavowal of Wrights Wrecent Wrants is most curious. The subliminal: If you are of mixed racial descent, vote for Obama. I'm not certain Wright was helping or or hurting Obama, since a vote for Obama will come to mean that all people regardless of racial dscent will ultimately have to buckle under and subscribe to the tenants of Black Liberation Theology, foregoing their own beliefs in order to not be lashed like Obama has been. Subliminal: If you wanna get beyond "race" join us, become our flock, subscribe to our beliefs. And, you can never leave. Not quite Hotel California, eh?
Insert here: Al Sharpton's accusation against Obama's "Grandstanding for White People".
What remains, nonetheless, is the issue of Black Supremacy.
**snip "He continued by explaining the theories of Dr. William Augustus Jones; that the way we perceive God (theology) affects the way we see ourselves (anthropology) and therefore the way we order our lives (sociology). Ergo, "If I see God as male, if I see God as white male, if I see God as superior, as God over us and not Immanuel, which means 'God with us', if I see God as mean, vengeful, authoritarian, sexist, or misogynist, then I see humans through that lens....And I order my society where I can worship God on Sunday morning wearing a black clergy robe and kill others on Sunday evening wearing a white Klan robe."
**end snip
Hillary asserts to being a "white Christian". Therefore, according to Black Liberation Theology, she is described in the passage above.
Which translates to "only racial, sexist bigots vote for Hillary."
Thereby on the grand scale of Marxist worldwide fervor would translate into the US being a "racist, sexist" nation and various UN Bodies would be empowered to refuel their conferences -- calling for the labeling of the US (England and Israel) as being "racist nations".
Voting for either Hillary or Obama guarantees a race war. And this play by the Democrats has been scripted to put the voting population into a Baseball "pickle" position.
You might want to do some research on Social Control behavior, and the angry black vote. Also, Wright is able to take heat off Obama and garner WHITE DEMS to feel sorry for him, that this offbeat Pastor is hurting his campaign.
WRight also, said FoxNews was attacking the black church, and not him.
Did you notice the facial expressions of WRight at NPC speech, and Obama when attacking Wright. Things are not always as they seem. Rove said on FoxNews that Obama had to wholly DENOUNCE WRIGHT or he wouldn’t win, but he had no way to do that unless Wright made the opportunity. AND they get to blame Hillary as the divider, by getting one of her supporters to jump on the bandwagon and provide media frenzy.
It’s great to see the light of truth illuminating darkness.
All the little furry creatures and insects are fleeing the light.
Great thread here. I tend to shy away from conspiracy theories -though there are some interesting coincidences in this entire scenario with Obama and Wright..
Here’s something to add from the Campaign Spot
http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/
Obama Suddenly Objects To Wright Being Called His ‘Spiritual Mentor’
Barack Obama, today:
I know that one thing that [Wright] said was true, was that he wasn’t — you know, he was never my, quote-unquote, “spiritual adviser.”
He was never my “spiritual mentor.” He was — he was my pastor. And so to some extent, how, you know, the — the press characterized in the past that relationship, I think, wasn’t accurate.
If the press mischaracterized that relationship, such as in this Chicago Sun-Times profile of Obama from April 5, 2004, it is mysterious as to how the press got that idea, considering how the article’s portrait of Obama’s faith, and its description of his relationship with Wright, appear to be based on an interview with Obama.
Still, Obama is unapologetic in saying he has a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” As a sign of that relationship, he says, he walked down the aisle of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ in response to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s altar call one Sunday morning about 16 years ago.
The politician could have ended his spiritual tale right there, at the point some people might assume his life changed, when he got “saved,” transformed, washed in the blood. But Obama wants to clarify what truly happened.
“It wasn’t an epiphany,” he says of that public profession of faith. “It was much more of a gradual process for me. I know there are some people who fall out. Which is wonderful. God bless them.... I think it was just a moment to certify or publicly affirm a growing faith in me.”
These days, he says, he attends the 11 a.m. Sunday service at Trinity in the Brainerd neighborhood every week — or at least as many weeks as he is able. His pastor, Wright, has become a close confidant.
... Friends and advisers, such as the Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church in the Auburn- Gresham community on the South Side, who has known Obama for the better part of 20 years, help him keep that compass set, he says.
“I always have felt in him this consciousness that, at the end of the day, with all of us, you’ve got to face God,” Pfleger says of Obama. “Faith is key to his life, no question about it. It is central to who he is, and not just in his work in the political field, but as a man, as a black man, as a husband, as a father.... I don’t think he could easily divorce his faith from who he is.”
Another person Obama says he seeks out for spiritual counsel is state Sen. James Meeks, who is also the pastor of Chicago’s Salem Baptist Church. The day after Obama won the primary in March, he stopped by Salem for Wednesday-night Bible study.
If the relationship between Wright and Obama has been mischaracterized, it is interesting that this is, to the best of my knowledge, the first time Obama has complained about the way it has been described in the press.
Another reference: Jodi Kantor, in the New York Times, March 6, 2007: “The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., senior pastor of the popular Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago and spiritual mentor to Senator Barack Obama, thought he knew what he would be doing on Feb. 10, the day of Senator Obama’s presidential announcement.”
UPDATE: The Rolling Stone profile that persuaded Obama to disinvite Wright from that announcement:
This is as openly radical a background as any significant American political figure has ever emerged from, as much Malcolm X as Martin Luther King Jr. Wright is not an incidental figure in Obama’s life, or his politics. The senator “affirmed” his Christian faith in this church; he uses Wright as a “sounding board” to “make sure I’m not losing myself in the hype and hoopla.” Both the title of Obama’s second book, The Audacity of Hope, and the theme for his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 come from Wright’s sermons. “If you want to understand where Barack gets his feeling and rhetoric from,” says the Rev. Jim Wallis, a leader of the religious left, “just look at Jeremiah Wright.”
Obama wasn’t born into Wright’s world. His parents were atheists, an African bureaucrat and a white grad student, Jerry Falwell’s nightmare vision of secular liberals come to life. Obama could have picked any church — the spare, spiritual places in Hyde Park, the awesome pomp and procession of the cathedrals downtown. He could have picked a mosque, for that matter, or even a synagogue. Obama chose Trinity United. He picked Jeremiah Wright. Obama writes in his autobiography that on the day he chose this church, he felt the spirit of black memory and history moving through Wright, and “felt for the first time how that spirit carried within it, nascent, incomplete, the possibility of moving beyond our narrow dreams.”
Obama has now spent two years in the Senate and written two books about himself, both remarkably frank: There is a desire to own his story, to be both his own Boswell and his own investigative reporter. When you read his autobiography, the surprising thing — for such a measured politician — is the depth of radical feeling that seeps through, the amount of Jeremiah Wright that’s packed in there.
04/29 06:21 PM
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