Obama Controversy: How Many African-American Churches Are Like Jeremiah Wright's?

Beyond Politics: Black Liberation Theology, America and the Question of Race   

RFFM.org Commentary by Daniel T. Zanoza

For a while, I had decided not to write anything on the Jeremiah Wright/Barack Obama controversy.  After all, it's all been said, hasn't it?  Every newspaper had the story on its front page and the commentary sections overflowed with all too wise speculation on the issue.  Why would Barack Obama attend a church where such hate was fomented from the pulpit for 20 years?  Did Obama allay concerns many had with him, after the junior senator from Illinois gave his speech on the issue of race?

The responses were typical.  After Obama's speech, the Left fell all over itself in praise of the Democratic presidential frontrunner almost to the point of hilarity.  Conservatives said Obama left many questions to be answered regarding the hateful words of Rev. Wright.  The fact is, I'm uncomfortable even referring to the man as a Reverend.  After all, the word reverend is a noun and an adjective.  I'll leave this debate for linguists and philosophers, but I do know what a man of God should be saying from a Christian pulpit.

That's why I decided to write this column.  The controversy over Wright introduced me to a new phrase, black liberation theology.  I did not know there was such a thing.  I was fully aware that ministers, or supposed men of God of all colors, use their position in God's church to spew hatred.  After all, the Ku Klux Klan claims it is doing the Lord's work in the evil that organization has espoused for nearly 150 years.  However, I didn't know men like Jeremiah Wright were spreading their anger in African-American churches and, to this point, I don't know how many men like Wright there are across America.

But Wright certainly answered some questions I had about why the issue of race never seems to go away in the United States.  Well, let me take that back.  Among most Americans, race has become less of an issue of contention than it was forty years ago.  Most Americans are not racist.  They see discrimination as an ugly thing and the people of our nation, for the most part, would like to see racial unity become a reality and not just a dream.

But imagine for a moment, it is 1988 and you are sitting in a church where black liberation theology is coming at you in waves from the dais.  Now imagine you are five years old and you hear this hateful rhetoric every Sunday for the next 20 years.

Suddenly, things became clear to me.  No wonder we cannot get over the race issue in this country.  Individuals like Mr. Wright continually throw gasoline on the simmering embers of racial hatred which does exist in this country in dark, dank places.  These fires burn into the minds of thousands of African-Americans.  Or is it millions of African-Americans?  What is the answer?  How many Jeremiah Wrights are out there?  I don't know, but I shudder when I think about the possible answer.

Christ taught us to love and sacrifice for our neighbor.  He told us to damn no one and forgive everyone, especially our enemies or those who have done us wrong in the past.  These hardly sound like the words of Mr. Wright or perhaps a better name for the man would be Mr. Wrong.

I cannot blame African-Americans if they have a deep underlining mistrust for whites, if this is what they have been taught weekly, since childhood.

Sen. Obama has used a number of excuses regarding his attendance at Mr. Wright's church.  First Obama said he wasn't aware of Wright's controversial statements.  Then Obama said he was never present when Wright took off on one of his hate-filled tangents.  Next the Illinois Senator said he was aware of the controversy surrounding his minister, but leaving the church would have been like leaving a family member, an uncle to be exact.

I have attended many churches in my life.  There have been numerous times where a preacher or church has held views which were not Scriptural.  My first obligation as a Christian was to address these issues with the minister or with the church on the whole.  If the answer to my question did not conform to God's word, my family would leave that church.  Indeed I have left churches before, though never because a minister was damning America or blaming another race for anything. 

The Obama's are an intelligent couple.  They have educations most people in America can only dream about.  But it took 20 years for Sen. Obama to understand that Wright's words were hateful?  Many have written about the issue of Obama's judgment concerning this matter, but is it possible Obama believes in Wright's teachings?  Did Obama stay at the church because Wright's message spoke to him?  After all, Obama's wife, Michelle, claims she had never been proud of her country until recently.  These are some important personal questions which Obama may or may not address.  Yet the bigger issue is whether America can ever come to a state of racial healing, if there are thousands of so-called preachers like Wright across the U.S. 

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. did not preach black liberation theology, Louis Farrakhan does.

Obama's speech about race was important, but he had a daunting task in front of him.  Just days after the debate over Wright came to a boil, Obama used the words "typical white person" in reference to his grandmother and the bigotry he has assigned to her.  Perhaps Sen. Obama has bought into the "Reverend" Wright's philosophy.  If Obama has, he should tell us and then Americans could decide whether a man holding these views could be a uniter or a divider.  Indeed, if he believes in Wright's teachings, is Obama qualified to be President of the United States?

You see, the flap over Wright goes much deeper than politics or race.  It speaks to the future of our nation.  From this debate, we get an idea of whether that future will be filled with real hope and change or a never-ending racial divide which will only perpetuate distrust and hate.  This is what's at stake for us all.

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Comments

[Rev. L. Dowell]

As a black Baptist Preacher over the past 20 years, I learned first hand how dangerous the black church really is. However, too many white officials and black lawyers and officials, too, have looked the other way and still do. Many parishioners who don't like what they are seeing and hearing in the church, do get up and leave to go elsewhere. But, they just won't speak out to do anything about it to hold the leadership accountable.

I know first-hand that black Preachers could have people investigated by FBI parishioners (and have done so). And, in my case, nothing happens in our community (Maryland), except that it first goes past the desk of the black Preacher. Why and how so? Because of the political influence of the Pastor and other church affiliations, many parishioners are also county and state employees who are privy to personal information about the citizens in the community, especially the parishioners.

TV channels and radio stations are all abuzz trying to figure out why Barack Obama (I call him, "BARAMA") has stayed in the same church for over 20 years. I know that it had to do with the religious and political influence and mentorship of Rev. Jeremiah Wright (Chicago, IL.). And it was a deliberate move on Obama's part to garner black votes, when he (Obama) decided to make his move to campaign for political office. During his speech on race, he threw his grandmother under the bus. And, if given more time to explore what he tries to keep hidden from public view, we'll find out there's more to prove why he would not be acceptable to become President of the U.S. And that has nothing to do with his race.

I began to speak out about the same kinds of rhetoric that the press now holds over Obama's Pastor, as though it was something new. Not so.

I stood up and spoke out against that same kind of hate-filled speech over 20 years ago. I was all alone and I was ignored, except that my pastor had me arrested falsely inside of the church for privately rejecting his sermons and for publicly exposing those kinds of double standards within the black community churches all across this nation. Therefore, I know that, being a black Baptist preacher, if I could stand up and speak out against it, then why couldn't Obama have done the same thing 20 years ago (i.e., speak out against his Pastor)? It was because he did not want to lose his place in his Pastor's good graces and miss out on "just such a time as this." But he has done just that.

By speaking out publicly about the black Baptist church rhetoric and the NAACP, they made me outcast. In other words, I believe I am the only one alive today who can speak directly to the race issues today exactly as they were 20 years ago, at the time Obama said he first joined Rev. Jeremiah Wright's Church (Chicago, IL.) And anything else reported by pundits and others is mere conjecture, speculation, supposition, and a mixture of everything else but context.

I spoke out against it and, at that time, I also witnessed men and women coming into the church where I ministered (in Columbia, MD), because they knew that the Pastor, Rev. John L. Wright, had religious and political influence. Not only that, but if the newspapers would conduct research, they would find (in my case) that the Senators and Representatives from Maryland are closely linked with Rev. John L. Wright in this county and the entire state.

Newspaper reports contain, and I am an eyewitness to confirm, just how those politicians came into the church to get Wright's influence to pick up black votes. In fact, an attorney in this county (one of Rev. John L. Wright's cronies) is quoted in one news article as saying that nobody can get in office unless they stop by that church. And Wright, himself, said in a publication interview that, "Nobody bothers me (Wright), because they know -- they know I have people and all I want to know is if you're ready." That was in 1992, after he had falsely accused me and had me arrested inside the church.

The press does not really want to know the bombshell I am sitting on about the black Baptist church and black preachers, in particular. The race question will remain a troubling concern as long as the ones who are in positions of authority refuse to acknowledge and consider valid complaints.

Here is the link to my story, which remains unknown. Other links are included on the site. http://www.clergywomen.org/dowell_sundaysun.html

Rev. L. Dowell, Five-Fold Minister
[email protected]
Columbia, MD

[Maureen]

Thank you for the article,
I too learned first hand that there even was a Theology called Black Liberation! Some of the defenders of this theology claimed that Rev Wright is actually "prophetic." They explained that the videos were mere snippets. That actually there is a formula of 1st greeting and hugging and welcoming all worshipers, followed by rousing gospel choirs, then a fiery activist sermonizing against slavemasters and what in "government" keeps folks down and then a rousing ending galvanizing the flock for activism. But for what? Is there just a recipe for blameplacing, hate spewing, and fearmongering? Are Christian principles of personal responsibility encouraged?Is it to blame status quo government for everything and to radicalize activists? More questions need to be answered. How responsible is Black Liberation Theology for the continued chasm of race? I think it's too easy to just characterize this as a left wing let's hate America crowd.

[Frank Joseph MD]

Reverend Dowell has been on my e-mail list from almost the beginning. She is conservative and strongly pro-life and has often written to me about the hellish conditions of our country. However, this is the first time, she has written to me about her experience in a black church and black churches in general.

Apparently, because of the Barack Obama situation with his pastor, she felt the need to write to me and wants it disseminated.

But first, I must state something about Obama's attempt to excuse himself from the hate speeches of his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. To me, it was downright pitiful.

If a person cannot judge the character of a man after being good friends with him for over 20 years, then that person's judgment has to be called into question if he wants to be president of the United States.

Wright's hatred of America and his anti-white rants had to be spilling all over him; from his mouth; from his ears; from his eyes; from his nose. And Obama could not perceive it?
How could he, as president of the United States, be able to pass judgment on foreign leaders and their intentions. Not to mention the terrorists who want to kill us.

Obama said that Wright was his spiritual adviser and was the one that introduced him to Jesus Christ. Wrong, he was introduced to Jesus Christ when he went to a Catholic school for a couple of years in his childhood, but obviously it did not take.

So, it must have been Wright who convinced Obama that killing unborn children is perfectly alright in the eyes of God -- even while being born and suffer excruciating pain. To just ignore God's commandment, "Thou Shalt Not Kill." To just ignore the Holy Scriptures in its condemnation of homosexuality. A sick lifestyle which Obama has no problem with, even though it's killing people.

Some spiritual adviser? Just these alone, should have had Obama bolting out of that church, even without Wright's rants of hatred toward white people and Jews. Even blaming our government for contaminating blacks with HIV/AIDS. How the US government was able to accomplish this is a mystery. Were pamphlets dropped out of the sky from planes telling blacks that sodomy should be their preference, because this is the main cause of spreading HIV/AIDS.

Frank Joseph MD