So, You Want a Theocracy Now?
Wright's expressed reason for speaking out (and possibly wrecking Obama's presidential bid) is that he feels he must defend the Black church from criticism. Right here is the trouble with churches -- they don't like to be criticized, and they don't think they should be criticized. If you criticize them, they tell you you are being disrespectful and sacreligious. It is not that the Pastor disagrees with you, it is that God disagrees with you and therefore you must be punished. Somehow, people are always more offended when they are told that God Himself is not on their side.
Isn't it interesting that there are so many churches in America who all more or less disagree with one another? Hagee hates and fears Catholics. Falwell hoped to see the end of public schools. Robertson declared that "Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians." Wright may be more correct about the history of Americans and black people in America than any of these pastors, but he is more like them than he is unlike them in that he sees attacks on him as attacks on the Black church, and he feels obliged to defend it. If Obama is required to repudiate Wright, then why isn't McCain required to repudiate Hagee? Well, only for this reason -- Hagee controls more votes. The fact of the matter is, all of the candidates have to pander to constituents who will not admit that in the last 70 years -- to say the least -- US policy has done a great deal of harm around the world and that that harm has aroused hatred and vengefulness toward the US. A candidate who won't admit or doesn't know that is the one who can get elected, but a president who can't admit or doesn't know that will continue to course of American destruction that Bush and Cheney have sent us down. Bush didn't know "why they hate us". Cheney did know, but didn't care.
The crossroads we find ourselves at was an inevitable one. I always knew some preacher would get some president or some presidential aspirant into big trouble. I naively hoped that it would be a rightwinger and his hate-spewing Robertson/Falwell power mongering hypocrite. I should have known it would someone who actually knows something about American history. But Obama wouldn't have this problem if Americans didn't have the idea that their president has to be a man of faith. If Americans thought that the president just had to be an intelligent and knowledgeable person, a competent policy wonk and an inspiring public speaker, Obama would be home free. But as an atheist, or an agnostic, or even someone who kept his beliefs to himself, Obama would have never had a chance. He could be ten times as smart and well-prepared as George W. Bush, but he would never get the votes. So, what Obama has been honest about his religious journey in a way that NO OTHER CANDIDATE HAS, and now even Bob Herbert wants him to abase himself for it. I'm sure Clinton's and McCain's pastors are going to come under similar scrutiny (Ha!). They should, because maybe if they did, the American people (and the press) would wake up from this madness of making politics about religion.
Update: As a result of Obama's smartly-phrased repudiation of Rev. Wright, I call upon John McCain to repudiate, in similar terms and at similar length, his relationship with Rev. Hagee, and for Hillary Clinton to openly discuss and repudiate her relationship to her Capitol Hill prayer fellowship led by Doug Coe. Among other things, According to Mother Jones, "The Fellowship believes that the elite win power by the will of God, who uses them for his purposes. Its mission is to help the powerful understand their role in God's plan." God's plan, according to them, seems to be "'spiritual war' on behalf of Christ". I, as a patriotic American, am at least as offended and frightened by anything Doug Coe and Sam Brownback are planning as I am by anything Rev. Wright is planning. Obama has repudiated Wright as forthrightly and gracefully as possible. Now I want the same from the others. The press must hold Clinton and McCain to the same standard as Obama. Hagee and Coe must go.
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"The press must hold Clinton and McCain to the same standard as Obama." I agree, but don't think this is going to happen, because Obama as a black man scares Americans and the media more than Clinton or McCain. I'm a white man, but can see that racism is almost genetically ingrained into the power structure and minds of most of Americans, despite claims positioning otherwise. If Obama doesn't win the nomination and become president, it will be because of that. Senator Clinton has run a dirty, fear-mongering campaign, and McCain's positions change as often as the weather. People are afraid of change, and the uncertainty of it, but that is exactly what our country needs in this dangerous and historic time. "Obama wouldn't have this problem if Americans didn't have the idea that their president has to be a man of faith." American and world history shouldn't be dictated by the faith of it's leader(s). Rationality, and historical understanding would better serve our interests than obsessing about religious extremists.
You seem not to realize who the victim truly is. Rev. Wright did not lift the offending clips from his sermons and package them for You Tube consumption or to press a stated political or social agenda. Unlike Malcolm X who dismissed to the press that President Kennedy's assassination was "chickens coming home to roost", thereby earning the contempt and condemnation of our grief strickened society, Reverend Wright restricted his assessment of 9/11 to a Biblical interpretation offered to his congregation the following Sunday to agree or disagree with. Many black preachers across the nation addressed the event in a similar fashion that Sunday. Few if any black Americans viewed it as unpatriotic to think of 9/11 as some form of divine retribution for the suffering and misery America had inflicted upon the non-white world.
America has stumbled upon an opportunity to nail yet another black body to its sturdily constructed cross of racism. Why else would the media unleash a scorched earth objective to destroy thirty years of service and devotion that Rev. Wright has committed to God and country? Even the most die-hard atheist could question whether Rev. Wright brought God into the political marketplace as you have stated, or God thrust Rev. Wright into the political arena whether he wishes be there or not..
Rev. Wright has wisely chosen to fight to protect his good name and his accomplishments regardless of Obama's fate in securing the nomination and the presidency.
Service and devotion my Aunt Emma. How do you explain the prancing, mugging and eye-rolling we've all been treated to for the last several days? Maybe it's the onset of senile dementia..
You obviously did not see his presentation before the NAACP or you would have credited Rev. Wright as a man of considerable intellectual depth and range. Given the fact that the Press Club's sole agenda was to portray the man as a sociopath worthy of their vilification, he acquited himself quite well. He spoke the truth as he saw the truth from a spiritual, not a political or social, perspective. So how can you explain how a man who 90% of Americans had never heard of or know nothing about is being subjected to a media lynching and national character assasination based upon a few seconds of soundbite, while a host of white theological ingrates can spew their bilge all over the land without fear of social repercussions as they laugh all the way to the bank.
Read Christopher Hitchens' book, "God is not Great." Hate, ignorance, and religion go hand in hand in hand.
F*ck faith, I just want a guy who can balance the books.
Awesome post, Jane. However, my proofreading self kicked in. It's "sacrilegious", not "sacreligious". :-P
America has always represented the best and worst of humanity. There were America’s intellectual founding elites, men who saw Seventeenth Century European enlightenment elements as shinning examples of freedom of mind and body and a template for starting a new nation. They gave us the Declaration of Independence, a fine Constitution and a Bill of Rights.
On the other hand, mindless, religious fundamentalists have always been the scourge of mankind, men who are quick to praise ‘their” God while joyously eager to eradicate any and all of unlike views. At heart fundamentalist hate freedom more than life itself, but are among the first to rap themselves in flags and symbols as a means to hide their self-loathing. Unfortunately, America possesses a wide stain of religious fundamentalist stretching from shinny sea to shinning sea, a factor that has always polluted our political ideals.
The classic paradox. While the fantasy, role-playing game called "religion", causes so many problems, the religious apologists and defenders claim it's all about love, justice, kindness, generosity, etc. Whew, total lunacy! You want examples of the problems? How about war, hatred, strife, child abuse (cult in Texas), for starters.
I appeal to all religious believers - please, GROW UP. There's no good guy in the sky, no bad dude underground in a pit of fire, two people DID NOT start the entire human race, a guy DID NOT build a special boat to save his family and two of each species, another guy DID NOT die on a cross (accurately known as "human sacrifice") for mankind, and whatever other FABLES, LEGENDS, FAIRY TALES, and MYTHS, you might read in the Torah, Bible, Koran, and any other "holy" book. More like "Holy cow, give us atheists a g/d break, already, you crazy sob's!"
This religion-stuff is just another distraction. Thanks for saying what needs to be said, skydaddy.
I believe in God, but I can't agree more. Religious people always seem to be using it as a way to dodge responsibility, and pass judgment on others.
Ms. Smiley, have you ever thought about being a talk radio show host? You are the sort of intelligent and thought voice missing on talk radio.
Why is everyone forgetting that Obama is only half black?--he's also half white! To me, his mixed ancestry is a tremendous asset!
Here's the link in case you missed this post about an upcoming expose of Hillary's "faith":
http://www
And if you'd like to learn more, read what this former FBI agent has to say about the very same "prayer fellowship":
http://ins
Yes that Fellowship crowd are a bunch of Christian extremist nuts.
So why did your man Barrack Obama attend too?
http://blo
Great post Ms. Smiley.
I wonder if Wright would have torpedoed Obama's campaign if Obama was 100% black and not 50 percent white...
this has nothing to do with religion.
its about a black man.
plain and simple.
why hasnt that crazy tv preacher that mccain supports not given the same time as wright?
because he is a white guy.
and make no mistake.
this is even NOT about wright.
it is about finding a way to stop Obama and keeping the racist elites white hands clean.
they set this up to run over and over then say see!, the people did this to Obama. but this hit job comes from the like of ABC ,disney and the other 4 white guys that run this countrys media.
what it tells me is there is absolutely no hope for this country to survive and turn around the bush course.
we are now firmly a facist nation.
and the people dont even see it.
hillary or mccain are bought and sold and no threat to the elites,
Obama is. i have posted many times how the media would attempt to destroy Obama.
I hope the people are wise enough to prevent it from happening.
"i have posted many times how the media would attempt to destroy Obama"
---- ... and who in the freaking hell are you, or Obama for that matter?
The media will do whatever it has to do to take on anyone. Why do you have to make it about "race"?
---- was it not less than a couple of months ago when the press was treating his candidacy like the second coming of Christ, and stepping all over Hillary. Did you complain then?
---- and, about nine months ago, Hillary was the "inevitable" just like Howard Dean was 4 years ago.
So, brother/sister (whichever you are),-- it's not always about race. When you make it about race, all the time, you are being disrepectful to a lot of Americans who aren't racist like you.
The Press/Media are useless charlatans used-car-salesmen types. They'll screw anyone, including their own mother whether she's white or black. And same can be said of politicians, lawyers, and any other frog-eating reptile.
What I wrote earlier is a truth for me but for all those who say they are religious and don't practice what they preach is where we are at today.Tony
Thanks very much for this, its very to-the-point and forcefully argued. Funny thing, Americans only started to care so much about this issue in the latter half of the last century. What led us there? I think it will fade somewhat, and one day be seen as a generational hangup of those who lived through the Cold War at its height, when the struggle was against the 'godless communists'. Enough people equated heightened levels of displays of overt religiosity with being pro-American that it just became an ingrained political sentiment. That combined with the way the abortion issue played out, caused a vast split between religious conservatives and those who weren't conservative. That split has itself always favored the Republicans, and they have dominated the executive office ever since. So, Democrats tried to mimic the Republicans instead of more thoroughly coming down on the side of the importance of the separation of church and state as the main dividing line in our society which would most protect religious freedom. There has been an intra-party argument amongst the Dems over the question of emphasizing that vs. emphasizing religion and various states in between ever since. A president Obama will do well in helping American right its course a bit here. He's a constitutional lawyer and scholar, I've heard him make a very strong defense on separation of church and state on many occasions, and he seems like a very open-minded, but not easily swayed, individual himself.
Jesus' message, revolved around the Eternal God and father of, not just, the Hebrews but of all humanity. The fact of the Wise Men confirms that his birth was special for the world. Yet, he did not declare his own divinity but deferred to God the Father. A virgin birth is not that difficult as we know today and to put restrictions on God is presumptuous at best. That applies to the death and resurrection also. There can be no Christ and the Jesus of the Da Vinci code.
The message is the most important of what and who Jesus was and this is what Christmas should be about. Love God with all your heart and soul and your neighbor as your self. He said that was always the law even before his time. The rest of the writings were there because he knew the human heart. Why did he hang out with sinners and plain folk and not the religious leaders? The messager and the message have put them out of business.
Celebrate or no; Christmas or any other form. There are many paths to the same place: God and no one has a lock on the right path. Jesus knew this and traveled and talked to many peoples. This is where the many mansions comes in. As for him saying that the poor would always be with us; the only reason is because of human avarice. Sound familiar?B
One would think that after all these centuries, your imaginary friend would speak clearly to hamanity. BtW Jesus didn't declare his messiahship, which is conflated with divinity by Christians is because the biblical sanction of doing so was to be stoned to death.
Hear, hear Grailknight!
People who blindly walk through life thinking there's a guy in the sky who reads their thoughts and who they will get to hang out with after they die just crack me up. I mean, seriously! Have these people ever actually read the Bible? I say read the God Delusion, then really read the bible. We might get back to some semblance of real humanity if people stop believing in these ridiculous superstitions!
Pretty silly stuff.
Speaking for all white people (why not?), we don't care if some blacks are still bitter about slavery and discrimination. I'm too busy living my own life to care about you, just as you....etc
Would I vote for a black man or woman? Absolutely. As long as they were Republican.
The last, about McCain/Hagee is really said without thought, to be kind. Hagee is just a guy with money pushing some McCain's way. Wright was Obama's mentor for twenty years. I have little faith you can see the difference, but that's what faith is. Belief in that which is unseen.
How nice for you that racism and discrimination is a non-issue in your life. But as a white person, you *don't* speak for me rikkirighteous.
You are representative of what is wrong with this country: a total lack of empathy for others. I bet you shop a lot too, right? Good little foot soldier supporting Bush's insane economic policy. Terrorist disaster? No problem, go shopping. People such as yourself are called "free riders." As long as it works out well for you, hey great, I'll take it. Otherwise, you don't really bother to get involved. Nice world view.
Good luck with that.
I have a different take on the Hagee/Wright question from you. To me it certainly seems reasonable that the person that Obama met twenty years ago changed over that time period. I don't know a single person who hasn't changed over such a time period.
Hagee's views however were well known before McCain sought out his endorsement and it is not credible that McCain was unaware of them as he had previously referred to such people as agents of intolerance.
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