Religious Bigotry Across the Board

As happens too often these days, I had to watch the satirical shows on Comedy Central to get the bigger picture on the current Obama furor. In Wednesday night's "The Word," Stephen Colbert called out religious leaders on the right for their hate-mongering over the years. I am not justifying bad behavior by one preacher by pointing at others, but instead, suggesting we put things in context before destroying a man's candidacy for the White House over an all too common American experience.

Without trudging too far back in our history, we can find all the examples necessary to demonstrate how religious leaders have incited division while enjoying powerful relationships with the political class. The Rev. Billy Graham, spiritual advisor to many presidents, was recorded in Nixon's oval office castigating the Jewish "stranglehold" on this country and hoping that Nixon "might be able to do something" about it. He later rejected such divisive rhetoric in favor of a very inclusive, loving religion. Interestingly, his son Franklin protested that such words were, yes, "taken out of context."

Franklin has not shown his father's maturity. A spiritual advisor to President Bush, who delivered the benediction at his inauguration, the younger Graham was quick to speak out after 9/11 on the Islamic faith. "I believe it is a very evil and wicked religion." But let's set aside attacks on Muslims. How about his assertion that Katrina was God's vengeance against that sinful city? "God is going to use that storm to bring revival."

Few will forget Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, just three days after 9/11, concurring that the terrorist attack was the fault of the "ACLU, abortionists, feminists, homosexuals and others who provoked God's wrath." Robertson condemned the cities of Orlando, FL (gays at Disneyland) and Dover, PA (rejecting intelligent design) to destruction by hurricanes, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, even a meteor(!) for their evil ways. And who can forget this? "Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off Foggy Bottoms to shake things up?"

Rev. Jeremiah Wright has been roundly condemned for suggesting that our government had a role in infecting black men with AIDS. What about Robertson's on-air tirade asserting that Planned Parenthood and the government support 'black genocide'? On May 11, 2006, he stated that this organization has received hundreds of millions of dollars from various Republican foundations because "they were alarmed by the growth of the black community and they didn't want to support a bunch of indigent black babies. I mean that's the dirty little secret. And the government itself has been funding Planned Parenthood...much in excess of $100 million a year. (B)lack genocide, that's what Margaret Sanger wanted. She also says that 'I've got to find a leading black minister to lead the charge,' and they selected Martin Luther King... (I)t's all there. I mean, you talk about a plan. It's a definite plan. I'm not trying to look at conspiracies, but the record is clear."

Robertson has called the Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Methodists "the spirit of the Antichrist." George Bush, Sr. said, "I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots." John McCain's new best friend, Pastor John Hagee, refers to the Catholic Church as "a great whore" and a "cult" complicit in the Holocaust. What was McCain's response? Last week, he simply said, "I repudiate the possibility that some of you took Rev. Hagee's salient but poorly constructed remarks to possible indicate that he may have some anti-Catholic sentiments which he does not." Did he denounce the statements? Yes. The man? No.

Frank Schaeffer, son of the powerful religious leader, Francis Schaeffer, recently penned these thoughts. "When Senator Obama's preacher thundered about racism and injustice, Obama suffered smear-by-association. But when my late father denounced America and even called for the violent overthrow of the U.S. government, he was invited to lunch with Presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush, Sr.....Take Dad's words and put them in the mouth of Obama's preacher (or in the mouth of any black preacher) and people would be accusing that preacher of treason. Yet when we of the white Religious Right denounced America, white conservative Americans and top political leaders called our words "godly" and "prophetic" and "a call to repentance."

Mike Huckabee stood up bravely for Obama and even Rev. Wright. He doesn't hold the candidate responsible for Wright's words and made it clear that Obama renounced the incendiary remarks. He acknowledged the emotional fervor that can lead a preacher into inflammatory rhetoric from time to time. And he went further, "I'm gonna probably be the only Conservative in America who's gonna say...we've got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told 'you have to sit in the balcony...or use the back door...' Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. I probably would to. In fact, I may have had more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me."

In churches, synagogues and mosques around this country, occasionally, there are words spewed forth that would not look good when plastered as headlines or played back as sound bites. Most of the religious leaders who transgress do valuable work within their communities despite their intemperate rhetoric from time to time. We should freely condemn the language that incites and divides. We should insist that such ideas are not promulgated in thought or deed by our officials. But the expectation that politicians will excise everyone that offends and must ignore any good by these people for the moments of bad, is asking more than most mortals would do.

Barack Obama has done all that he should. He has unequivocally denounced the hateful words of Rev. Wright while speaking eloquently of his own vision of unity, tolerance and understanding. Now if only the media would get back to the substance of this campaign, rather than the ratings-driven vitriol, maybe we could all focus on the truly critical issues we face in the coming election.

Read more HuffPost coverage and reaction to Obama's speech

Comments

[jp5472]

Catherine! (sigh).....once again an intelligent look, an intelligent insight into what the real issues are that led us to the point we are today. Thank you once again.

[1will]

About 300,000 black babies are aborted in the US per year.
300,000
The funding isn't coming from the NAACP or black churches. Someone seems to not mind killing off black babies. Anything else affecting the black community is either a conspiracy or racism yet the deaths of 300,000 black babies per year doesn't even get a soundbite.

[moderationsmuse]

Whose ideas could hold up under laser like scrutiny? Anybody's? You can find passages in Aristotle that make him sound like an idiot. Context is everything. And the ultimate context is the person himself. Wouldn't any of us wish to be known by our best selves? I haven't made up my mind who I'm voting for in the fall. (I voted formerly for Bush.)
I might vote for McCain. I might vote for Obama. (No chance I'm voting for Mrs. Clinton, though.)
However I'll say this much, whether I vote for Obama or not, he has thoroughly convinced me that he is genuinely a good man, a man of principle, and moral purpose. Nothing that I heard Rev. Wright say changes that.

[TrustInKnowledge]

whether a person believes in another's religion or not they should respect that persons right to have that belief.

[fact finder]

read this guys profile.

[Squirtapotamus]

Not when that belief causes harm. When you assert that I'm a sinner who must accept your brand of salvation or be condemned, you are causing harm. I will not "respect" this kind of bigotry.

[fact finder]

Squirt; Respect his RIGHT to have the belief not his actions. When leaders of one religion condemn another religion, not the person, then the person condemning the RELIGION is wrong.It makes no difference whether it is Christen or Muslim or What ever They are wrong.

[moderationsmuse]

And what about all the Christians who are not asserting anything about you?

[Linglu]

Religion causes so much trouble, so much bigotry and wars.

1.) Obama graduated from Harvard and head of their presitigious Law Review.
2.) He taught Constitutional Law at Columbia
3.) He served ably as a state legislator for 8 years.

HE IS HALF WHITE.
What a tragedy, we might get someone in the Whitehouse who UNDERSTANDS the Constitution.
Use your brain, people, if you have one. If your minister and your parents didn't brainwash you beyond repair.
How many of you are responsible for putting Bush in the Whitehouse TWICE?
I have no faith in the American people. Our current administration loves ignorant people. They are eating up your civil liberties.
"It's much easier to be a dictator, as long as I am the dictator". Sounf familiar?

[JohnJames]

Sorry, but historically both Christianity and Islam have been intolerant both between sects and denominations within each religion and toward non-believers. When people embrace a religion whose theology centers around an anthropomorhic god and it tells them they're on his side and he's on theirs, don't expect them to give much latitude to anyone whose beliefs diverge from theirs. By the way, I know huckabee is every straight liberals favorite or, at least, least disliked fundamentalist but, as for tolerance, he believes gay people are all headed to hell unless they become like him - straight.

[politicky]

You could go further and say that most religions have extremists who feel it is their duty to elevate their followers to positions of power over others of different religions. Its a part of human nature.

[moderationsmuse]

You could go further and say that put two different camps of atheists next to each other and after enough time has passed, they'll be at war.
Yes, it is part of human nature -- they don't even need to be extremists. Robert Frost said it well, "good fences make good neighbors." But it's hard to build the right kind of fence. It's a fence that each one has to build within himself -- a kind of deep respect for the humanity of others.

[bauersox]

"Now if only the media would get back to the substance of this campaign, rather than the ratings-driven vitriol, maybe we could all focus on the truly critical issues we face in the coming election."

To judge by the blogs at HuffPo those critical issues would be Hillary's income taxes and that blue dress.

[Squirtapotamus]

What? You are most certainly a poor judge.

[Mormondude]

People talk about the 'deep scars of racism'. I suppose for someone that was born in the 1920's and had to suffer racism for most of their adult life, they would be scarred.

But for anyone 30 of younger, I'm gonna call BS. If they're scarred, it's only because their own parents, their own communities, their own PASTORS scarred them.

One of my ancestors was involved in the Haun's Mill Massacre. After many others in his community were wounded or killed by a government militia, my 78 year old ancestor surrendered. He was then disarmed, shot at point blank range, and then hacked to death with a corn knife.

If I was raised to believe that this horrible event defined me, maybe I'd be scarred. If I had been indoctrinated to believe that Mormons were all persecuted by the government, maybe I'd believe that. If I was taught that non-Mormons hate me and want to kill me because I'm the wrong religion, just like they did my ancestor, I might have a big chip on my shoulder.

The only way for the scars of racism to heal is for the black community to stop wilfully scarring each new generation. I have to wonder if Obama's own kids have been scarred by their subjection to Wright's sermons. When Obama's wife talks about how she has never been proud of her country until this year, again it makes me wonder what she has been teaching her kids about America.

These are legitimate issues in a discussion of race. If Obama hopes to address racism on a national scale, I think it's worth asking if he has expunged racism from his own family, his own community, or his own church first. If not, then how can he possibly present himself as someone capable of leading such change nationally?

[sfsilver]

I was raised Mormon in Salty Lake City and found nearly every lesson about Mormon identity and history to be one of victimization. The culture thrived on thinking of itself this way. Even in a state where they dominated and dictated the business, political and cultural realities they thought of themselves as victims of religious repression, quick to jump on any legitimate criticism of their near stranglehold on power as anti-Mormon bashing in the tradition of the Joseph Smith assassination, being "driven" from Nauvoo IL, and Kirkland OH, or the cannon of Fort Douglas trained on downtown Salt Lake.

The difference is that the Black community, despite gains since the end of slavery is still subjected to policies and attitudes that prevent them from participating in the American dream the way any white person would take for granted. Do they often dwell a bit too much on it at the expense of moving forward? Probably, but I'm not going to blame them for their scars or bitterness.

[Wilson33]

"Frank Schaeffer, son of the powerful religious leader, Francis Schaeffer, recently penned these thoughts. "When Senator Obama's preacher thundered about racism and injustice, Obama suffered smear-by-association. But when my late father denounced America and even called for the violent overthrow of the U.S. government, he was invited to lunch with Presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush, Sr.....Take Dad's words and put them in the mouth of Obama's preacher (or in the mouth of any black preacher) and people would be accusing that preacher of treason. Yet when we of the white Religious Right denounced America, white conservative Americans and top political leaders called our words "godly" and "prophetic" and "a call to repentance."

Alright, I am tired of this man getting any kind of credit with him throwing his own dad under the bus, but that's another story entirely. The difference between Wright and Schaeffer is that Wright says that America is rich, white men, that's it, they own it, they run it so they are to blame for all of its faults, especially against blacks. So, he is saying that it is all white peoples' fault since America is only rich, white men, so when he says God Damn America, he is saying God Damn White People.

Schaeffer's dad and others never equated America with rich, white men. When they were talking about America, they were referring to the government specifically and its policies and its people, not just white people, like is being inferred by Wright.

[Squirtapotamus]

I see. Rich white people cannot be held responsible for the state of America. Rich white people can do no wrong. Only the government can do wrong and the government has NOTHING in common with rich white people.

[GJMandinka]

Great Post! As Senator Obama said in his recent speech on the subject; we have a choice about how we deal with this issue. We can give it the limited amount of attention it is due, or remove it from any context and amplify it's importance beyond reason. If it were not for a certain concern about the vulnerabilities people have when bombarded by negative media messages, I would actually consider this incident to be very positive. This issue provided a reason or the necessity, perhaps, for the Senator to relay to us his understanding of the complexities of racial issues and give us a sample of his vision for improving race relations in America. It occurs to me that anytime this guy gets an opportunity to speak to people on a topic that has gathered their attention; his campaign benefits.

[YellerDawg]

Religionists and their accolytes should never be elected to public office.

[larry278]

Petty quibble- Ms Crier, do you mean Geo HW Bush when you write, "...Bush, Sr".? POTUS #43 is Geo Walker Bush, not Geo Herbert Walker Bush. Since W doesn't have the name "Herbert", he isn't "...Bush,Jr. & Poppy is plain Geo Herbert Walker Bush, not "...Bush, Sr.

[yowza1]

Yes they (the reiligious right and all their Republican sponsors) are stupid, venal, majnipulative, deceitful, etc. It is usually the biggest lie that gets over especially if it is supported by "common wisdom" or "accepted belief expressed in sound byte cliches with sadistic intent against truthful, able and well meaning people.

[YellerDawg]

Who freaking cares? They are both fools.

[NBAFan21]

Thanks for the great article Ms. Crier. Its was good so read Huckabee's response. Let the kids and clones follow the MSM, It is time to act like adults now people.

[RENREVARD]

THANK-YOU.

[wildgeeseNC]

Thanks for pointing this out:

"Robertson has called the Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Methodists "the spirit of the Antichrist."

It's something that I find missing in many discussions of Rev. Wright and Trinity UCC. Conservative Christians are scandalized and shocked by what goes on in mainstream white churches, too. It helps to put this kind of objection in context.

When I saw Wright's sermons in their proper context, I saw something that that could be said in any main stream protestant church.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/20/224958/631/841/481227