Posted on 03/17/2008 7:06:58 AM PDT by jdm
No apologies. Instead, they've gone with the "look over there!" approach.
“AN ATTACK ON OUR SENIOR PASTOR AND THE HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CHURCH”:
Chicago, Ill. (March 15, 2008 ) — Nearly three weeks before the 40th commemorative anniversary of the murder of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.’s character is being assassinated in the public sphere because he has preached a social gospel on behalf of oppressed women, children and men in America and around the globe.
This does not even purport to address the issue. No one is disturbed that Wright tries to better the lives of "the oppressed." People are rightfully angry that he believes it's necessary to tear down "whitey" in the process. Obama spent the last year talking about unity and it turns out that his very good friend, his counsel, his pastor, the man who brought him to Christianity, built a following out of dividing black America from white.
Trinity United, and whoever wrote this release does the same thing by announcing that our scrutiny is an attack on the "African American Church." This is freshman-level victimology. I'm a little embarrassed for them.
“Dr. Wright has preached 207,792 minutes on Sunday for the past 36 years at Trinity United Church of Christ. This does not include weekday worship services, revivals and preaching engagements across America and around the globe, to ecumenical and interfaith communities. It is an indictment on Dr. Wright’s ministerial legacy to present his global ministry within a 15- or 30-second sound bite,” said the Reverend Otis Moss III, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ.
During the 36-year pastorate of Dr. Wright, Trinity United Church of Christ has grown from 87 to 8,000 members. It is the largest congregation in the United Church of Christ (UCC) denomination.
Well, woohoo for you! It turns out that there are 8,000 like-minded people who want to wallow around in their victimhood once a week. I wouldn't be bragging about that.
“It saddens me to see news stories reporting such a caricature of a congregation that has been such a blessing to the UCC’s Wider Church mission,” said the Rev. John H. Thomas, UCC general minister and president, in a released statement. “ … It’s time for us to say ‘No’ to these attacks and 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.”
What is he talking about? No one's trying to destroy any ministries or any congregations. In fact, I think we'd all appreciate it if Rev. Wright would make his sermon and lecture notes available for wider release. I am genuinely interested in knowing what he's all about, though I don't expect to sympathize or agree with much of it.
Trinity United Church of Christ’s ministry is inclusive and global. The following ministries have been developed under Dr. Wright’s ministerial tutelage for social justice: assisted living facilities for senior citizens, day care for children, pastoral care and counseling, health care, ministries for persons living with HIV/AIDS, hospice training, prison ministry, scholarships for thousands of students to attend historically black colleges, youth ministries, tutorial and computer programs, a church library, domestic violence programs and scholarships and fellowships for women and men attending seminary.
These are all noteworthy and admirable projects. But they're not why Rev. Wright is in trouble. Nor do they negate his efforts to single out blacks, domestically and globally, and convince them of their oppression.
Moss added, “The African American Church was born out of the crucible of slavery and the legacy of prophetic African American preachers since slavery has been and continues to heal broken marginalized victims of social and economic injustices. This is an attack on the legacy of the African American Church which led and continues to lead the fight for human rights in America and around the world.”
"God damn America" is the legacy of prophetic African American preachers? Douglass weeps.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached the Christian tenet, “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Before Dr. King was murdered on April 4, 1968, he preached, “The 11 o’clock hour is the most segregated hour in America.” Forty years later, the African American Church community continues to face bomb threats, death threats, and their ministers’ characters are assassinated because they teach and preach prophetic social concerns for social justice. Sunday is still the most segregated hour in America.
It is laughable and shameful that a congregation that has self-segregated thinks that Rev. King's words will be a shield against further examination. By evoking Rev. King, Trinity United only looks worse by comparison.
The more I hear from that racist nutball Wright, the more I’m disgusted by what’s creeping out of the Empty Suit that is Obama.
Yeah. How DARE people accuse them of standing for what they admittedly stand for? Of all the nerve. (/sarcasm)
They "tore down 'whitey'" in Zimbabwe, didn't they? I wonder if Wright's mob is aware of how that turned out?
King wanted people judged on the content of their character. Sadly, modern liberals want them judges on the color of their skin as their characters are often lacking.
LOL!
I must have missed this one.. Matthew, Mark, Social, Luke, John...
"Social gospeller, social gospeller, God is not for you, God is against you."
Wright is just like Jackson .....keep the people divided and collect the blacks donations. They are going to start race riots and put themselves back 100 years.
"God Damn America", "The US government created HIV to use on the blacks", "the US deserved 911 chickens coming home to roost", "the US government imports drugs to keep the blacks down", "rich white men rule America to keep the black man down", "Jesus Christ was a poor black man in a white ruled and supremist society", etc., etc. are all clearly hatefilled, disgusting perversions that no Christian preacher, white or black, should make a part of any of his sermons.
The fact is Wright is using such speech and such ideology to perpetuate the plight of those in America, white or black, who buy into this screed.
Wright is what Alan Keyes calls one of the "Masters of the Dream". He claims that Hillary Clinton uses blacks. Well, he is right on that count...but it's the pot calling the kettle black, so to speaik, because he is doing exactly the same thing.
I hope the leaders of this church continue to try and defend this digusting perversion. It exposes them for who they are and keeps this issue as regards Barack Hussein Obama on the forefront...all the way to their convention. Maybe the white superdelegates will steal the election from Obama because of his unebelievable ties to this disgusting hate America crowd and irrevocably split the DNC constiuencies.
I hope so.
Obama's lame attemmpts to distance himself from himself are pathetic and will fail.
Obama is shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, that his Pastor hates Whitey!
Please, ““AN ATTACK ON OUR SENIOR PASTOR AND THE HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CHURCH”: “
More likely the real truth is they are worried because their exploitation of the poor, black consituents on the South Side has been revealed and the so-called ‘leaders’ of the Church are watching their meal ticket sail out the window.
Poor widdle victims. Sniff, sniff, give them a hanky.
Rev. Wright is about keeping the money flowing.
That said, there are numerous other Black churches that preach the same “hate whitey” message along with Black colleges.
Well, for that matter, there are numerous “hate whitey” college courses at predominately White colleges too.
Good riddance.
She will be all the more unelectable herself.
This is an attack on racist, America-hating, anti-Christian nonsense. If this is an attack on the legacy of the African American Church, then it is an attack long overdue.
..Wright has more in common with Elijah Poole Muhammad and Louis Walcott Farrakhan than MLK—by light years...
I see no healing in the pastor's words, only hate.
That's part of the problem right there. There's not supposed to BE an "African American church". My Bible says that there are no spiritual differences in Christ based upon race or nationality (Gal. 3:28). A local church should be made up of the saved people in an area, regardless of what they look like.
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