URBAN JOURNAL: Obama, preachers, and prophets
By Mary Anna Towler on Mar. 25th, 2008
Curious things happen when religion and politics collide. Right-wing commentators have had a grand old time hooting at the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. And insisting that Barack Obama prove his patriotism by turning his back on his former pastor.
Apparently the folks having such a fit have never cracked 
a Bible. They sure haven't read the Old Testament prophets.
The prophets - including one named Jeremiah - railed against injustice, greed, oppression of the poor, obsession with power. And they didn't mince words: damning was the least of the punishments they figured God was concocting. I imagine them every bit as worked up as Jeremiah Wright as they wandered about the land.
Jesus himself was no milquetoast as he talked about right and wrong and who was going to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. In one of the most familiar of the New Testament parables, Jesus lashes out against unrighteous nations that refuse to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. They will be called "cursed," Jesus says. They'll be sent "into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."
And here is Jeremiah Wright, in the cadence of strong, black-church preaching:
"We bombed Hiroshima. We bombed Nagasaki. And we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye. We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans and now we are indignant?"
And the sermon segment that has inflamed the pseudo-patriots: "The government gives them drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law, and then wants us to sing God Bless America? No no no! God damn America, for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating us citizens as less than human."
(The Old Testament Jeremiah pictures God putting it this way: "When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.")
So is Old Testament-style prophesying no longer acceptable in church?
Is it anti-American to speak the truth about this country?
What's next, in this flush of patriotic fervor? Loyalty oaths for preachers and their congregations?
User Comments
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Doug Midkiff on March 27th, 2008
Thanks, Mary Anna, for your editorial. I hope it reminds those who profess Christianity that regular attendance at church and at prayer meetings and at church activity that could be best described as activity for activity's sake, are no substitutes for the social justice that Jesus preached. It is so difficult to be the Christian that Jesus describes, that the Church has spent 2000 years looking for substitutes they could cloak in rightousness.
It woiuld be well for those who align themselves in the front pews of the churches each Sunday to remember that Jesus said the two most important commandments are "Love God with all your soul, all your might, all your mind, and all of your body, and Love your neighbor as yourself." The term "neighbor" goes far beyond your neighbors in the nice homes and manicured lawns in the suburbs and includes many of the people described in the Reverand Jeriamiah sermon.
Richard on March 28th, 2008
Sen. Obama is in a tough spot with this. Some people, like Mary Anna Towler and I assume many others, embrace the comments of Rev. Wright. Others, who might like Obama in most other respects, find Rev. Wright's comments quite disturbing and raise questions as to Obama having him as his pastor and spiritual adviser for 20 years. Unfortunately, Obama probably needs the support of both the people who align with Rev. Wright's comments and the people who find them repulsive. It's not clear how he can make both ends of the spectrum of his potential supporters comfortable enough to continue supporting him.
Loop on April 25th, 2008
three things I'd like to mention:
1. We as a country believe in the separation of the church and state so government cannot tread on religion, it also stands to reason religion should not get into politics, is he a preacher, an activist, or a politician? If the church is going to "preach" politics they should have their tax-free status removed.
2. I heard a lot of anti-establishment, anti-white rhetoric from Wright. The last time I remember a speaker getting so worked up to blame all the ills of a nation on a race was that little German guy blaming the Jews...do we really want to go there ?
3. If a white preacher was blaming America's problems on Blacks it would be considered hate speech.
C'mon Wright, it can be your America too, you just have to learn to forgive..you are a Christian right??