A year ago, he was barely edging into the public’s consciousness as the spiritual mentor of Barack Obama, one of many Democratic presidential candidates. But in recent weeks, the notoriety that comes with preaching “God damn America” has made the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. a national magnet for questions about his black liberation theology and scathing pulpit rhetoric.
Obama – now the Democrats’ frontrunner – cites the Chicago megachurch’s pastor as the catalyst for his own Christian baptism in 1988.
Some commentators have condemned Wright, who will speak Sunday at Bank Street Memorial Baptist Church in Norfolk. Conservative columnist Erik Rush, for example, called the minister “anti-American, anti-Semitic and anti-White.”
Last month, Obama repudiated Wright’s most inflammatory social critiques, but not Wright himself or their long relationship. Obama’s campaign also announced last month that Wright had left its spiritual advisory committee. It did not say whether Wright was asked to leave or volunteered.
Similarly, clergy familiar with Wright before his sudden fame say media sound bites mischaracterize a gifted minister planted in the black church mainstream. Wright led Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago from 1972 until his retirement this year.
“He’s a sound preacher. He’s not way out there,” said the Rev. Ralph Reavis Sr., president of Virginia University of Lynchburg. “White America does not understand the black church or its theology.”
On Trinity’s Web site, Wright describes black liberation theology’s emphasis on African Americans’ autonomy, compared to the subjugation their people faced in slavery.
Black theology also identifies God and biblical prophets as liberators of oppressed people, said Andrew Park, a theologian at United Theological Seminary. Another core belief is that racism violates God’s will and must be confronted.
At Bank Street, the congregation is refusing interviews about Wright, who is the nephew of its late pastor.
Wright’s visit is part of an anniversary celebration for the church’s booster club, which raised money for his uncle’s mission work.
But Bank Street’s pastor, the Rev. William Dixon, mentioned Wright in a recent sermon citing Ezekiel, a biblical prophet who rebuked a wayward Israel. “Many people a few days ago were criticizing Jeremiah Wright for speaking truth to power,” Dixon said.
What Wright says and what he means are at the heart of the current controversy. Sermon video clips circulated on the Internet and cited by news media showed Wright after Sept. 11, 2001 preaching about “America’s chickens are coming home to roost.”
In a 2003 sermon, he accused the government of undermining the black community with drugs, prisons and mandatory sentencing.
“God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human,” he said.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama’s rival, said she would have quit her church if her minister made similar comments. “You don’t choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend,” she said last month.
Others say Wright can only be understood in the context of historical racism and the black church.
Wright’s grandfather and uncle pastored Virginia churches in Surry County and Norfolk. His father led Grace Baptist Church in Philadelphia, where Wright was born in 1941.
“Any black person who grew up in our generation, Jeremiah Wright’s generation, has to have a lot of suppressed frustration and anger at how we had to fight our way through the maze of discrimination,” said Reavis, who knew Wright’s parents.
Wright attended Virginia Union University, a historically black school in Richmond, before serving six years in the Marine Corps and Navy.
After the military, Wright finished his undergraduate degree as well as a master’s degree at Howard University. He earned a second master’s degree at the ecumenical University of Chicago Divinity School, and a doctorate at United Theological Seminary, affiliated with the United Methodist Church denomination.
Trinity had less than 100 members when Wright arrived. It grew to more than 8,000 under Wright and the congregation’s motto, “Unashamedly Black, Unapologetically Christian.”
According to The Chicago Tribune, Obama’s 2004 speech to the Democratic National Convention was based on Wright’s sermon “Audacity to Hope.” Wright performed Obama’s wedding service and baptized his children.
Wright, like many black pastors, contrasts divine justice with poverty, discrimination and difficulties facing his congregation, said the Rev. Linda Clark of Union United Church of Christ in Norfolk.
“If you’re a minister in an urban community and speaking to a predominantly African American congregation, you cannot get around talking about the condition of those who are minorities,” said Clark, whose Huntersville district is much like Trinity’s hardscrabble neighborhood.
And while he seems anger-driven, Wright’s fiery oratory fits the black tradition of forceful preaching, said Brenda H. Andrews Brooks, publisher of the New Journal and Guide, Norfolk’s black newspaper.
In its March 26 edition, the New Journal compared Wright with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a liberation preacher who condemned America for “arrogance” and “war crimes” in Vietnam. “God has a way of even putting nations in their place,” New Journal quoted King as saying.
Not every black pastor is a liberation minister, said the Rev. Theodore R. Little Jr., a former president of the Tidewater Metro Baptist Ministers’ Conference. Little said he was repulsed by Wright’s “profaning the name of God.”
But Little said Wright and liberationists were not necessarily radicals.
“I don’t think he’s an extremist,” said Little, who leads Dome of Canaan Baptist Church in Chesapeake. “Sound bites have taken things out of context.”
Wright is scheduled to speak in Suffolk at the United Church of Christ’s Southern Conference meeting June 26-27.
“What we want him to talk about is how we can help connect with people in our communities,” said the Rev. Stephen Camp, who heads the conference. “That he somehow is beyond the pale of what is acceptable Christian thought these days just doesn’t hold water.”
Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com
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Usage of Words
The word god was chosen by European translators of Scriptures to signify the Supreme Being. This was done so as not to turn off the many pagan barbarians that European Christians were attempting to convert to Christianity. Since there were many deities within some pagan religions, a generic name was chosen, so these pagans could associate their favorite deity with the Christian. This is also why many pagan holidays were incorporated into Christian doctrine.
Since many of the barbarians of this age were Germanic, a term to which they could relate, was chosen. The word god derives from the old German word got, which was a generic word denoting a being perfect in wisdom.
This type of reasoning was also somewhat behind the decisions to begin to portray Yeshua,(Jesus), as a European, rather than the Palestinian He was. Once Europeans became dominant worldwide, these misrepresentations of Yeshua,(Jesus), became the norm throughout the world. Another reason History, not His Story needs to be taught.
Interesting...Condemnations, Politics, &...Religion (O)
Kind of like "dog gone it.", as opposed to "Rover gone it". Maybe Peter will buy it. Of course religion, & politics are always open to interpretation, & prone to disagreement. While true that that word god can be used generically in a broad sense, & identified by several names to refer to a supreme being. "God", appears to often be used in a more direct fashion, as an actual name. "God created man, etc"...I really have no idea if Rev Wright (capitalized the word "God") in his expression of suggested condemnation, since it appears to be expressed vocally, & transposed on paper by someone else... Pretty good point..As a Catholic, & when I said that, strangely enough, I was told I was using the lord's name in vain...The one about the pagans in the cross story was really good too..especially about the cross..profound..& accurate overall.(O) Opinion
The movies
Ever seen the Movie Leap Of Faith? That what all these rent a preachers remind me of. Welcome to Town Preacher.
Using a name in vain
Rev. Wright didn't use the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhists or any other religious name for the Supreme Being in vain. Scripture states all persons are gods. Some Scriptural names for the Supreme Being include; El Shaddai, Elohim, Eloi, Yahweh, Yhwh, Jehovah, Allah, etc.
One can't be sued by G.M. because they used the generic term, car, as in "my car is a lemon." We can't project our limitations to the Supreme Being. We have no clue as to who will be in Heaven or Hell, outside of a personal knowledge, in faith, of our own destination. Politics have been a part of many Black worship services for years. Houses of Worship were for many years, the only place, after the end of Slavery, where more than three Blacks could legally congregate, in many states. The House of Worship was used to pass on political & social news. It also was used as an entertainment venue. This situation illustrates a point I've often made: History needs to be taught in our schools, not His Story.
Concur George.
Can you imagine.. religion...& politics....in the same venue? Talk about your double whammies...The top two subjects that cause the most controversy of alltime!!....combined....brings to mind the Middle East...lol
If my minister
Started preaching politics, I would walk out of that church and never return.
Was Wondering, & Still Am...It's Reassuring....
That he will have no problem at the "Pearly Gates." I'm glad that part is "cleared up." I pondered his "explanation", & have no illusions that my opinion will permit or deny him. Still have to wonder, after contemplating a conglomeration of the evidence available, what he will say...Obviously, he has led others to God..Wondering if that will outweigh, or possibly "balance the scale", on using Gods name in vain publicly, to make a point. Peter's felony is attributed to self preservation. There are the reports of racial implications, that have definite signs of recrimination, & bordering outright hatred....Like what was pointed out...Peter does have a history of denial....& probably has to only do it once this time..sorry to be concise..750 characters. (open minded opinion)
Explaining one's comments to St. Peter
Rev. Wright will have no problem at "The Pearly Gates". He has honorably served his Nation, his people & his Lord. People, not the "Supreme Being", have trouble with an other's truth, if different than their own. If one were to keep an open mind to the fact that all people don't see the same events in the same light, one would have few problems seeing others points of view. This doesn't require agreement.
Besides, was not the Keeper of the "Pearly Gates", THE PERSON WHOM THRICE DENIED EVEN KNOWING JESHUA,(JESUS)? Judge not, lest ye be judged.
The "Good" Reverend
My Opinion...He can say practically anything he wants in this life, in this country per the constitution, but, it would be interesting to hear how he can explain his policies or views to St Peter when he is trying to gain access past the "GD" "Pearly Gates".
comments NOT out of context
This 'fiery' pastor's comments may have been lifted from his sermons, but they most certainly were NOT lifted out of context. Those much-maligned 'sound bites' make his contempt, and his thoroughly rascist viewpoints very clear indeed. While I can generally commend preachers who, thruout history, have used their position as 'bully pulpits' to champion addressing and correcting social wrongs, it is quite clear that THIS preacher's orientation is quite distinctly anti-white, and by proxy, anti-American. A review of his church's affiliations and support groups makes it very clear that there is a highly defined emphasis on 'white' culpability. It is HIGHLY interesting to note that there seems to be NO emphasis on 'black' accountability--on 'black' responsibility--on blacks taking ownership of issues like lower education test scores for black kids, on black gross income comparing less than whites, on blacks assuming responsible home ownership. No...it's always "Blame the whites, they done it to us". How stupid.
I beg your pardon
"In its March 26 edition, the New Journal compared Wright with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a liberation preacher who condemned America for “arrogance” and “war crimes” in Vietnam. “God has a way of even putting nations in their place,” New Journal quoted King as saying."
Please don't even go there. Jeremiah Wright is an angry black man and certainaly no Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in any stretch of the word.