Why Oprah Left Reverend Jeremiah Wright's Church

Reverend Jeremiah Wright has become a household name due to his association with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. However, Obama's not the only famous figure to attend Wright's church. Oprah was a member of Trinity church, where Wright preached, from 1984-1986, and she continued to attend off and on through the early 1990s. Then she stopped, and as Newsweek reports in its latest issue, Wright himself was a major reason:

According to two sources, Winfrey was never comfortable with the tone of Wright's more incendiary sermons, which she knew had the power to damage her standing as America's favorite daytime talk-show host. "Oprah is a businesswoman, first and foremost," said one longtime friend, who requested anonymity when discussing Winfrey's personal sentiments. "She's always been aware that her audience is very mainstream, and doing anything to offend them just wouldn't be smart. She's been around black churches all her life, so Reverend Wright's anger-filled message didn't surprise her. But it just wasn't what she was looking for in a church." Oprah's decision to distance herself came as a surprise to Wright, who told Christianity Today in 2002 that when he would "run into her socially ... she would say, 'Here's my pastor!' " (Winfrey declined to comment. A Harpo Productions spokesperson would not confirm her reasons for leaving the church.)

But Winfrey also had spiritual reasons for the parting. In conversations at the time with a former business associate, who also asked for anonymity, Winfrey cited her fatigue with organized religion and a desire to be involved with a more inclusive ministry. In time, she found one: her own. "There is the Church of Oprah now," said her longtime friend, with a laugh. "She has her own following."

Read the full story here.

Read more of HuffPost's coverage of Reverend Wright here.

Comments

[rsg5354]

Here we go, more gossip WHAT THE HECK? unbelievable!!! Sheesh give us all a break!! Go write about Rev. Hagee and McCain and Hillary and her Pastor who by the way is? What's his name? Get off the Wright crap already.

[realtalk]

HILLARY CLINTON still has not denounced her pastor Douglas Coe, whose prayer services she attended REGULARLY since 1993. Douglas Coe is a pastor who has praised HITLER in recorded sermons. This pastor Douglas Coe, praised Hitler, as went even further, praising Hitler's two strongest supporters: Himmler, and Goebbels, for being able to get Germans to blindly follow Hilter's plans.
It may have done good for Pastor Douglas to remember while he was in awe at the power Hilter wielded, that Hitler used that power to kill millions of people, millions of Jews.

I am still waiting for Hillary to denounce this pastor whose prayer meetings she was regularly a part of since 1993.

[LINY516]

So, she was a member of the United Chuch of Christ and went to one of it's churches in Chicago. Big deal. www.UCC.org. It's the church that had those fantastic commercials last year about having its doors open to everyone.

Stop with the Wright madness and become educated on the United Church of Christ.

[klandish]

Is the media really enjoying this or what? They have never given Georgie boy this much going over for all the criminal behavior he's exhibited. What's the deal!

[NC2NJ]

I CARE ABOUT THIS STORY, BECAUSE???!!!! How does this solve the problems of this country??

[kellygrrrl]

she should think about steering a little clear of the Scientologists as well

[tubette]

is this gossip??

[BIllyDelyon]

When all the people that spoke about Oprah are labeled as 'who requested anonymity' pretty much proves to this poster that, yep its more gossip pile'n onto the Rev. Wright story...

[PaulStewart]

Okay, so you are saying Oprah said this in the headline but the story is definately based on two sources who remained un-named and undefined.

This is innuendo not news. Get a life and move on to more important topics.

[Independent007]

Sorry guys, I think this was important news, but should not be in the political section.
Move ON Huffpo.

[BlackmaninAmerica]

This nonsense about Wright is getting to be ridiculous. Unless Oprah said it, which I doubt she did, this is just hearsay.

[mhauser]

Thank you!

[allison]

How about acknowledging this is lifted from Newsweek's article, http://www.newsweek.com/id/135392.

[txgal44]

Who really cares?

[orle8050]

Misleading headline... Oprah says nothing and can we get past Rev. Wright. People treat this man like the Pope.

[Bad actor]

I like Oprah but I think she owes the country an explanation concerning the credibility of Obama's book, "Dreams from My Father".. Sharon Churcher, the author of the London Daily Mail's expose' in 2007, paints Obama Sr. as a drunken polygamist who lived a "love them and leave them" lifestyle and fathered many children by several women in polygamist relationships. Allegedly, his alcoholism resulted in auto collisions which first caused him to lose both legs and finally his life. It is suggested that Junior glossed over the truth to present his father in a favorable light as an electoral tactic. It worked; however, as he comes under greater examination due to all of the murky Chicago political scene it could be the feather that tips the scales against him.

[Suzie2]

Polygamy is common is some African nations.

[klandish]

Yes, the ignorant never cease to bore me.

[TheAdviceWeAllNeed]

SHUT UP

[going2ireland]

Very intelligent. How much thought did you have to put into your comment before typing it in?

[avicenna]

I don't follow the reasoning for why Oprah owes you an explanation regarding the "credibility" of Obama's book inspired by his absentee father. I would think Americans would want to know about the credibility of those who led the nation to war that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives, about a trillion dollars of your tax dollars, destablized the world's tenuous stability, and has extended their astoundingly poor judgement with absurd ideas like the "gas tax holiday" - as if gluttony needs encouragement and asthmatics need to inhale more air pollution. With the nation on prozac, I suppose it isn't as surprising the level of ADHD that some seem to have when it comes to keeping the attention on real issues - not fabrications of mass destraction.

[Whycee54]

UH.. Obama was 2 when his father left so what has all this to do with OBAMA????His father had no effect on his bringing up.

[hank48188]

His father lived in Kenya and was educated at Harvard, but ended up being a clerk at the water dept.. He did have a high level position in the Gov't but must have been a troublemaker and the President removed him from all Gov't positions. All his life Obama must have had some idealized view of his father, a man he never knew. That is why Obama moved to Chicago, so he could learn about being a black man in America.

[rsg5354]

Be real who cares about Obama's father, he left his mother. And just for future reference African men have more than one wife. Go study some World History.

[freshnotbitter]

It is un-American to criticize a person based on his house of worship. We tolerate all faiths in America and we able to do so because we separate, ABSOLUTELY, personal faith and politics.

Once we start connecting politics and faith we will be no better than the Europeans we fled or a Jewish or Muslim theocracy engulfed in violence and strife.

[CeciliaBertrand]

boring - move on