It's only fair I mention this article.
According to a statement released to the media by Trinity United Church of Christ, "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."
While I wouldn't say that's why his character is being "assassinated" (controversy doesn't generally surround advocating for oppressed children), we should at least respect the positive impact Trinity United Church of Christ has had in its community.
That being said, I have to point out one ironic statement.
Otis Moss, III (no idea why, but there's a comma after his last name), the current pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ, said this about the Wright controversy:
(Don't get me wrong, I know there's a racist "white church community," and its existence is deplorable. But it's on the fringe and on the out.)
According to a statement released to the media by Trinity United Church of Christ, "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."
While I wouldn't say that's why his character is being "assassinated" (controversy doesn't generally surround advocating for oppressed children), we should at least respect the positive impact Trinity United Church of Christ has had in its community.
That being said, I have to point out one ironic statement.
Otis Moss, III (no idea why, but there's a comma after his last name), the current pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ, said this about the Wright controversy:
"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.”Um...Sunday is a day, not an hour. And if you're worried about segregation on Sunday, should you really be talking about the "African American Church community"?
(Don't get me wrong, I know there's a racist "white church community," and its existence is deplorable. But it's on the fringe and on the out.)
4 comments:
What do you think of this?
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hisownwords
What do I think?
Barack Obama, March 18:
"Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes."
Los Angeles Times, March 15:
"The Illinois senator added that he had not heard Wright make the controversial statements from the pulpit or in private conversation."
If he disagrees with Wright, he's the one person in that church who does, because the rest didn't mind.
Oh for crying out loud... what about the substance of what he said... among other things, the part where he talked about where this stuff comes from and what exactly is wrong with it, and why he supports Wright as a person while disagreeing on some statements?
In all seriousness, why should I trust the substance of what he is saying when he is blatantly contradicting himself in an attempt at damage control?
He used that same Ashley example in one of his other speeches...
What do I think about the substance?
I want to learn more about his conversion. He says Wright introduced him to Christianity, but I doubt they met on the street. More likely, he came to Chicago and sought out the most prominent black church there (which isn't, in and of itself, a bad thing).
It's hard to call what Wright did just statements, though. His sermon about the chickens coming home to roost was delivered SEPTEMBER 16TH, 2001. I was only 11 (my birthday was September 9th) and living in Brazil at the time, but I've cried watching "Flight 93" and stuff like that. I (and most of America) don't want a president who endured statements like that and waited seven years to address them.
And now, I will explain what is, in my opinion, the broader issue.
People...worship...Barack Obama. Women have fainted at his rallies. He represents, to many Americans (and people abroad), the convergence of many sociopolitical ideals.
I want to make sure they look at him as a human. (Hillary's politics are strikingly similar, and yet no one apotheosizes her.)
Why?
For the past four centuries, the general trend of Western history has been progressive. Not just technologically, but socioculturally. Moral standards are much lower than they used to be (and much higher, in some ways); what was once a theocentric collectivist culture has become a humanistic individualist one. Secular humanism has become THE dominant force transforming our society. Its tenet of relativism advocates a socialistic economy and globalized polity, a godless public sector, and a toothless and anti-conventional moral code; it demonizes Christianity and other overtly Western social, political, and religious traditions.
Unknowingly or not, Christian or not, Obama and people of his ilk embody this secular humanism. His and his church's overt emphasis on social justice necessarily deemphasizes the next world (which is why a church that overly emphasizes social justice will end up not a church at all, but a political institution).
Christians today enjoy a culture that has not yet completely rejected "organized religion" and theism; in fifty years, that may not be the case. We have to arrest the tide of secular humanism, and Obama just doesn't seem to be the way to do it.
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