A Church Under Attack Says "No" to the Political Smears

Those who seek to discredit Barack Obama by bashing his former pastor are not just attacking the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., they are attacking Trinity United Church of Christ and its highly successful ministry.

On Palm Sunday, the Trinity community responded with a statement issued by the Chicago church's current pastor, the Rev. Otis Moss III.

The statement offers a rare bit of light in moment of dark political maneuvering.

It reads:

Nearly three weeks before the 40th commemorative anniversary of the murder of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.'s character is being assassinated in the public sphere because he has preached a social gospel on behalf of oppressed women, children and men in America and around the globe.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached the Christian tenet, "love thy neighbor as thyself." Before Dr. King was murdered on April 4, 1968, he preached, "The 11 o'clock hour is the most segregated hour in America." Forty years later, the African American Church community continues to face bomb threats, death threats, and their ministers' characters are assassinated because they teach and preach prophetic social concerns for social justice. Sunday is still the most segregated hour in America.

Reporters who do not know much about religion -- and even less about the complex intersections of church and state -- immediately contacted Trinity to ask if the statement had been "cleared" by the Obama campaign.

Angela Faison, a spokeswoman for the church, answered a question from The New York Times with an instructive question: "Why would we do that? We are two separate entities."

Comments (62)

1. It's awfully good timing for Rev. Wright to have retired a month ago.....and didn't suffer a Firing....though I doubt Trinity Church would've anyway since it isn't making PC apologies for the Rev., as at least Obama has done in trying to excuse his Racist `uncle'!

   Rev. Moss needs to stop whining on behalf of Rev. Wright, I seem to recall Don Imus and Sen. Macaca Allen....both `done in' by "15- or 30-second sound bite[s]"......and Samantha Power, and Geraldine Ferraro, blah, blah, blah.....

   Posted by Happy at 03/16/2008 @ 8:07pm

2. I'm not going to defend the sound-bytes that have been going around, but I would think that sermons like the following (the title of which Obama borrowed for his book) were probably the norm at Trinity.

   http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/03/for-the-rec ord.html

   Posted by Billy_Budd at 03/16/2008 @ 8:21pm

3. "the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.'s character is being assassinated in the public sphere"

   Okay, Mr Nichols...if so....why didn't Barack Obama DEFEND his pastor?

   Political expediency will be the only honest answer, IF it truly is "character assassination".

   Posted by Mask at 03/16/2008 @ 9:05pm

4. I believe by the sound of this so-called ministers congregation the entire church was agreeing with everything he said.It wasn't just him spouting hate and lies; the entire church was following his lead.

   Posted by syzito at 03/16/2008 @ 9:56pm

5. In the news... lots of people cheering for other winter soldiers too (800 military veterans and active soldiers opposed to the occupation of Iraq).

   Posted by winyahn at 03/16/2008 @ 10:12pm

6. Looks like Senator Obama just gave Billary another stick to crack his head with.

   Posted by ACook at 03/16/2008 @ 10:17pm

7. Barack Obama is SHOCKED, SHOCKED, I TELL YOU that his preacher, advisor and mentor of twenty years holds such "inflammatory" views about America, and white people.....

   This calls for the Obama Chant!

   Hope for change, hope for change, change, change, hope, hope!

   (Might explain that endorsement from Farrakan, though...)

   Posted by TransitDave at 03/16/2008 @ 10:24pm

8. The NATION defending a Christian Chruch??????????????????? OMG.

   Nichols defending a Pastor of the Church????

   It is good to see Mr. Nichols and has such a nuanced view of religous fervor while being preached by Ministers, i wonder if he will extend such consideration to others? Nah....his hypocrisey goes so far.

   Posted by CPT at 03/16/2008 @ 10:40pm

9. Posted by CPT 03/16/2008 @ 10:40pm

   As hypocritical as say a self-proclaimed military recruiting officer, who was more interested in defending the civilian administration for partisan hack reasons...than caring about the health care of his fellow soldiers???

   Posted by Mask at 03/16/2008 @ 10:44pm

10. Posted by MASK 03/16/2008 @ 10:44pm | ignore this person

    Firstly, am no longer in that command not for year now, my how time flies doesnt it, secondly it appears that your act lacks imagination.

    Tired and old....like a comedian using the same joke over and over again and still expecting it to be funny everytime.

    And lastly it laughably not true as i have continually answered you and refuted this rather weak charge of yours. It seems you cannot accept my rebut.....i must have really opened a nerve in you.

    Accept the fact that i do not share your rather narrow view of that issue. But that is to be expected of one who clearly doesnt understand the nuances of govt bueracracy.

    Posted by CPT at 03/16/2008 @ 11:41pm

11. Posted by MASK 03/16/2008 @ 10:44pm | ignore this person

    Firstly, am no longer in that command not for year now, my how time flies doesnt it, secondly it appears that your act lacks imagination.

    Tired and old....like a comedian using the same joke over and over again and still expecting it to be funny everytime.

    And lastly it laughably not true as i have continually answered you and refuted this rather weak charge of yours. It seems you cannot accept my rebut.....i must have really opened a nerve in you.

    Accept the fact that i do not share your rather narrow view of that issue. But that is to be expected of one who clearly doesnt understand the nuances of govt bueracracy.

    Posted by CPT at 03/16/2008 @ 11:42pm

12. Wow...double posted AND time-warped!

    Posted by yutsano at 03/17/2008 @ 01:33am

13. This is a story of a leftist pastor that has a social agenda which for me - although I don't agree to it completely - is far nearer reality that those myriads of pastors that defend the right, capital, statu-quo and the Rep party.

    Christian values are about love and brotherhood. The pastor is inflammed because of the hypocrisy of a society that claims granting equal rights to people and does not in the practice. We have to see by his prism of being African American and having passed through really though times, I understand him and concede some of his claims, period.

    But here there is another opportunity for the right to "prove" that anyone that does not align with its nationalistic (not patriotic!) values is un-American. For the right, crtical thinking about Irak, Afghanistan, 9-11 and the image of our country abroad is prohibited and un-nationalistic. Reality is that our negative image in vast sectors of the world is nothing but their doing and that of some of our companies. But millions of Americans like us are misrepresented in this story and the pastor and Obama are saying it all the same but yet in different ways. Obama, less lefty but still wanting to overhaul our foreign policy, the pastor much more involved in conscience problems and what a Christian should do.

    Don't let the right get the handle of this. Obama should distance from the pastor enough just to keep the mainstream happy, but still keep his basic foreign policy claim to reach to any government in the world that would speak to us in a civilized way.

    Posted by Frank42 at 03/17/2008 @ 01:35am

14. Billary & Co. will do whatever it takes to stop Obama from winning what they & their major donors believe is their entitlement. None of this past week's race card dirt tactics should surprise - how dare people of color damn the society that oppressed them, what unpatriotic gall. No surprise at all, not in view of the Billary-backing NYTimes running that front page piece a few weeks ago suggesting Obama's assassination. Never a similar inflammatory, unconscionable peep of similar speculation about Billary. That suggestion of murder said it all. We are on notice.

    Posted by sloper at 03/17/2008 @ 02:43am

15. Billary & Co. will do whatever it takes to stop Obama from winning what they & their major donors believe is their entitlement. None of this past week's race card dirt tactics should surprise - how dare people of color damn the society that oppressed them, what unpatriotic gall. No surprise at all, not in view of the Billary-backing NYTimes running that front page piece a few weeks ago suggesting Obama's assassination. Never a similar inflammatory, unconscionable peep of similar speculation about Billary. That suggestion of murder said it all. We are on notice.

    Posted by SLOPER 03/17/2008 @ 02:43am

    You need to go and have a cold shower. Obama knows what Wright said is dynamite for him personally, now that the country knows the sort of swill Obama has been imbibing since Wright converted him, and thus is why he is back-pedalling from Wright's racist comments as fast as he can.

    Some of us conservatives come regularly to this site and in the main think we have not been corrupted by it and we probably could make a case, albeit with some difficulty, that in like manner Obama may not have been corrupted through listening to 20 years of Wright's anti-white demagoguery (remember it is not only American whites but the Italian (Romans) et al whites who were targeted, simply because they were/are white).

    The problem for Obama is that none of us "informed" Republicans would have been likely to vote for Obama even before his racist sympathies were exposed but what he is likely to lose is the support not only of some Republicans but also some Democrats and Independents who will be horrified that he was a silent, if not an approving recipient of this very overt racism, whilst an active and enthusiastic member of Wright's leadership in this Church.

    Posted by harvey 79 at 03/17/2008 @ 04:43am

16. Someone want to tell me what was so wrong with what he said? It was one of those cases where they Dean-screamed it continually and pointed fingers and expressed horror--but someone want to tell me why? Was he wrong about the African-American experience? Was he wrong about American foreign policy?

    Or, was the underlying theme about WASP disapproval of the manner of African-American preaching expressing a taboo level of emotion for the flat, bland, repressed, racist WASP monotone? That seemed to be the same frame of reference used in attacking Dean: display of unacceptible emotional pitch--and it is important to keep the lid on too much outrage or emotional intensity to maintainn the iron fist.

    Posted by Lil at 03/17/2008 @ 07:26am

17. "Republicans would have been likely to vote for Obama even before his racist sympathies" Posted by HARVEY 79 03/17/2008 @ 04:43am

    Well that's news to me. I thought the Republican party had no problem with racist tendencies. My bad. I guess it's the homosexual tendencies the Republican Party has no problem with.

    Posted by k330k at 03/17/2008 @ 07:46am

18. Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.'s character is being assassinated in the public sphere because he has preached a social gospel on behalf of oppressed women, children and men in America and around the globe.

    I thought his character was being assassinated because of the far left conspiracy theories he spouts from the pulpit.

    Posted by abell12ct at 03/17/2008 @ 08:20am

19. Does anybody listen to Hillary? I heard her on the news yesterday and this is her withdrawal plan for Iraq. In sixty days of her inauguration she will have a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq. Not that the troops will be withdrawn in 60 days but that they will have a plan. Such Bullshit! I bet Obama will be the same. They both know you can't just withdraw troops quickly without causing a humanitarian crisis. But who gives a shit about the Iraqis anyway? I would rather see an administration that has as their main goal the stabilization of Iraq instead of a goal of "Lets get the hell out of there!"

    Posted by abell12ct at 03/17/2008 @ 08:26am

20. An activist church that goes out into the community and helps citizens that doesnt denigrate people who have different lifestyles like gays that preach social justice. I'm not religious but sounds like my kind of church. I can see why someone who's mother was an Atheist would be drawn to such a church. I doubt this Pastor was preaching hate in and out for 20 years. Yes he probably said some controversial stuff but come on sinc when is America afraid of people saying controversial. Hell George Bush said the other day that serving in Afganistan is romantic. I have a brother over there and romantic for him is being with his wife and children NOT risking his life in a god forsaken place. But funny I dont hear much outcry about that in the media. John McCain is using reverse fear mongering saying that Al Queada is going to intensify things in Iraq to tilt the election to the Democrats again I dont hear anyone coming out and criticizing him. People should be judge by who they are and what they've done not by what someone else said. I doubt everyone agrees with everything their pastor said.

    Carol

    Posted by harriscrl3 at 03/17/2008 @ 08:36am

21. Nobody's criticizing McCain because he is most likely right.

    Posted by abell12ct at 03/17/2008 @ 08:46am

22. Posted by ABELL12CT 03/17/2008 @ 08:46am |

    Right about what? He's running on "I'll give you four more years of Bush'ism".

    Posted by Mask at 03/17/2008 @ 08:50am

23. As a lifetime member of this church that suddenly everybody loves to hate -- the United Church of Christ --

    Let me say that people who hear only "hate" in the Rev. Wright's preaching must never have experienced real hate in the form of racism. People, the reason racism hurts is because it works by economic exclusion and the presumption of guilt rather than of innocence, not because of anybody's hypersensitivity to name-calling.

    And the people who hear only "lies" in the Rev. Wright's preaching must get their news from Fox. 'Nuff said. You have to have some practice hearing the truth before you can recognize it when you hear it.

    Sure, Obama has to distance himself from Wright's words, especially when they are ripped out of context for sensationalist purposes. You can't fight ignorance and win votes from ignorant people at the same time. But the reason I prefer Obama over any other candidate is because I believe he is loyal to his church in his heart, not because he has somehow left it behind.

    You can't leave a progressive church behind except by marching in the wrong direction.

    Thank you for your reflections, Carol!

    Posted by JakobFabian at 03/17/2008 @ 08:53am

24. McCain is right that Al Queada is going to intensify things in Iraq to tilt the election to the Democrats

    Posted by abell12ct at 03/17/2008 @ 08:53am

25. "far left conspiracy theories he spouts from the pulpit."

    Which would be?

    Posted by Lil at 03/17/2008 @ 09:01am

26. That America is to blame for 911

    Posted by abell12ct at 03/17/2008 @ 09:06am

27. Posted by ABELL12CT 03/17/2008 @ 08:53am

    I thought "the Surge"....fixed that?

    Posted by Mask at 03/17/2008 @ 09:06am

28. Personally I think it was the terrorists that flew the planes into the WTC and their planners who are to blame

    Posted by abell12ct at 03/17/2008 @ 09:07am

29. 'They both know you can't just withdraw troops quickly without causing a humanitarian crisis. But who gives a shit about the Iraqis anyway? I would rather see an administration that has as their main goal the stabilization of Iraq instead of a goal of "Lets get the hell out of there!"'

    Wonder why they always claim it would be dangerous and difficult to withdraw troops from Iraq, but it never seems to be a problem to send in forces to attack and occupy? I would think that Iraqis would cheer the Occupiers departure and it is hard to "stablize" anything when you are the cause of the destablization.

    How these wingnuts swallow the talking points whole without the benefits of critical thinking. They are always suckers for the well-indoctrinated image of the US as the great benefactor. To think otherwise would cause a crisis in their faith--and politicians such as Bush-Clinton exploit this mental and moral weakness. Thus killing iand destroying Iraq becomes Helping the poor Iraqis by the eternally good and decent US.

    Posted by Lil at 03/17/2008 @ 09:07am

30. Sure, Obama has to distance himself from Wright's words, especially when they are ripped out of context for sensationalist purposes. You can't fight ignorance and win votes from ignorant people at the same time.----Posted by JAKOBFABIAN 03/17/2008 @ 08:53am

    So, Obama didn't DEFEND his pastor...because he wants votes from stupid people???

    Posted by Mask at 03/17/2008 @ 09:07am

31. Well the surge is working incredibly well but terrorists only have to be right once.

    Posted by abell12ct at 03/17/2008 @ 09:08am

32. Posted by ABELL12CT 03/17/2008 @ 09:07am

    Then maybe we should have gone after THEM and secured the country they were hiding in (Afghnistan)...

    instead a country they DIDN'T come from and had little connection with???

    Just a thought.

    Posted by Mask at 03/17/2008 @ 09:09am

33. The surge is creating stabilization. I know that liberals don't care about a humanitarian crisis. How these wingnuts swallow the talking points whole without the benefits of critical thinking. They are always suckers for the well-indoctrinated image of the US as the great destroyer. To think otherwise would cause a crisis in their faith--and politicians such as Obama-Clinton exploit this mental and moral weakness. Thus helping the poor Iraqis by the eternally good and decent US becomes killing and destroying Ira.

    Posted by abell12ct at 03/17/2008 @ 09:12am

34. Posted by ABELL12CT 03/17/2008 @ 09:12am

    And there are always suckers who will believe whatever the RIGHT-wing ideologues tell them...like how the "War on Terrorism" is "OUR generation's World War-II"....but we don't have to pay for it, don't need a draft, and it can go on longer than World War-II with no end in sight.

    Posted by Mask at 03/17/2008 @ 09:14am

35. instead a country they DIDN'T come from and had little connection with???

    Just a thought.

    Posted by MASK

    Unless you believe that Sadaam turned the sanctions into the U.S. trying to starve innocent Iraqis and that was causing more terrorists.

    Posted by abell12ct at 03/17/2008 @ 09:14am

36. "That America is to blame for 911"

    It was no surprise--it wasn't like it was happening in a void and it wasn't the first attack on the world trade center. Ask the rest of the world, if they count for anything in your worldview, about US policy in the ME re: militarism and oil and especially the I/P issue and see if they are surprised that the symbols of US imperialism were attacked.

    Posted by Lil at 03/17/2008 @ 09:15am

37. And there are always suckers who will believe whatever the RIGHT-wing ideologues tell them...like how the "War on Terrorism" is "OUR generation's World War-II"....but we don't have to pay for it, don't need a draft, and it can go on longer than World War-II with no end in sight.

    And there will always be suckers who will believe whatever the LEFT wing ideologues tell them. Like we can just pull out of Iraq and everything will be fine.

    Posted by abell12ct at 03/17/2008 @ 09:17am

38. It was no surprise--it wasn't like it was happening in a void and it wasn't the first attack on the world trade center. Ask the rest of the world, if they count for anything in your worldview, about US policy in the ME re: militarism and oil and especially the I/P issue and see if they are surprised that the symbols of US imperialism were attacked.

    Posted by LIL

    I knew that was coming that was why I posted this

    Personally I think it was the terrorists that flew the planes into the WTC and their planners who are to blame

    Posted by ABELL12CT 03/17/2008

    Posted by abell12ct at 03/17/2008 @ 09:18am

39. Like we can just pull out of Iraq and everything will be fine.

    Posted by ABELL12CT 03/17/2008 @ 09:17am

    Like we can just stay in Iraq 'for a 100 years if that's what it takes' and everything will be fine???

    Posted by Mask at 03/17/2008 @ 09:22am

40. John McCain 28 February 2000

    '...Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right....'

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    National Public Radio Blogs 17 March 2008 http:// www.npr.org/blogs/ news/2008/01/ barack_obama_and_the_influence.html

    '...Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen, however, is not so crazy about Wright's message. He writes that in 1982 Wright founded Trumpet Newsmagazine; his daughters serve as publisher and executive editor. And Cohen takes exception to the magazine's naming of Louis Farrakhan as the winner of the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award, saying he was a man who "truly epitomized greatness."

    Cohen, however, believes that Farrakhan "epitomizes racism" for most Americans. He adds that he sees nothing in Obama's record that supports anti-Semitism of any kind, or agrees with the award given to Farrakhan. But praise for an "anti-Semitic demagogue is not a minor difference or an intrachurch issue."

    "The Obama camp takes the view that its candidate, now that he has been told about the award, is under no obligation to speak out on the Farrakhan matter," writes Cohen. "It was not Obama's church that made the award but a magazine. This is a distinction without much of a difference. And given who the parishioner is, the obligation to speak out is all the greater. He could be the next American president. Where is his sense of outrage?"...'

    Posted by HonestLiberal at 03/17/2008 @ 09:23am

41. Posted by ABELL12CT 03/17/2008 @ 09:14am |

    So, Saddam was helping Al Qaeda boost membership?

    Got any evidence for that?

    Posted by Mask at 03/17/2008 @ 09:24am

42. I would rather see an administration that has as their main goal the stabilization of Iraq instead of a goal of "Lets get the hell out of there!" Posted by ABELL12CT 03/17/2008 @ 08:26am

    Cash your PR agency check post haste, pal, before it bounces. Surge working? Stabilization on its way? Spout that nonsense elsewhere, please, somewhere reality won't intrude.

    CheneyBush & Co. have destroyed Iraq. The US does not have it in its power now to "stabilize" Iraq. CheneyBush & Co have bankrupted the US morally, & severely hobbled it militarily & diplomatically. McCain offers only more of the same, dig a deeper hole. Hillary offers hot air. Obama offers diplomacy, but he may little left to work with. Thank you, CheneyBush & Co., for the GOP legacy of disaster to which you've condemned our country.

    Posted by sloper at 03/17/2008 @ 09:24am

43. Posted by HONESTLIBERAL 03/17/2008 @ 09:23am

    Yes, but you'll notice McCain "walked back" his comparisons of Farrakhan and Sharpton, to Robertson and Falwell, when he needed the Religious Right to get the nomination and to short up his base for November!

    Posted by Mask at 03/17/2008 @ 09:25am

44. Posted by SLOPER 03/17/2008 @ 09:24am

    Actually, SLOPER, if you read what ABELL is saying...he's contradicting himself.

    He said that "Al Queada is going to intensify things in Iraq to tilt the election to the Democrats"...

    but he said "the Surge is working".

    So if Al "Queada" has LESS intensity in its attacks NOW...it's not due to the Surge...but do to them "biding their time" to wait for OUR elections!

    Posted by Mask at 03/17/2008 @ 09:27am

45. CheneyBush & Co. have destroyed Iraq. The US does not have it in its power now to "stabilize" Iraq. CheneyBush & Co have bankrupted the US morally, & severely hobbled it militarily & diplomatically. McCain offers only more of the same, dig a deeper hole. Hillary offers hot air. Obama offers diplomacy, but he may little left to work with. Thank you, CheneyBush & Co., for the GOP legacy of disaster to which you've condemned our country.

    Posted by SLOPER

    Thanks for the Al Jazeera viewpoint

    Posted by abell12ct at 03/17/2008 @ 10:04am

46. Posted by ABELL12CT 03/17/2008 @ 10:04am

    You tell him, ABELL......show SLOPER all those polls that show how the American people by wide majorities love Bush and Cheney, and only leftist peaceniks and the terrorists don't like them!

    Posted by Mask at 03/17/2008 @ 10:06am

47. One can make good money being a right wing hate monger.Just look at Falwell,Rush,Ann Coulter,and many preachers.I wonder if Wright was able to make the big bucks off of his words like those on the right?

    Posted by i'm nobody at 03/17/2008 @ 10:08am

48. ABell-Why do so many of you on the right claim to speak for terrorists?

    Posted by i'm nobody at 03/17/2008 @ 10:09am

49. Mask you should also show sloper that the American people by wide majorities love the Democrats in Congress and only warmongers don't like them.

    Posted by abell12ct at 03/17/2008 @ 10:11am

50. ABell-Why do so many of you on the right claim to speak for terrorists?

    The actions of terrorists speak for themselves.

    Posted by abell12ct at 03/17/2008 @ 10:12am

51. Posted by ABELL12CT 03/17/2008 @ 10:11am

    You mean the Congress that keeps funding the war?...no, they're not popular either.

    Hmmm?...so what would the un-popular Bush/Cheney and Congress have in common then?!?!?!?

    Posted by Mask at 03/17/2008 @ 10:14am

52. The United States is not a perfect country and one can easily understand the frustration that many people, including members of Trinity UCC Church, feel about various aspects of US foreign and domestic policies, including the "War on Drugs." Nevertheless, Jeremiah Wright's position is an extreme one, and his language is inflammatory. Obama's long standing membership in Wright's church, and his close association with Wright, inevitably raise questions about Obama's judgement and to what extent he shares his minister's views. Michelle Obama's statement about being proud of her country, only because her husband, a black man, is running for president,raises the same concerns. Calling attention to Wright's sermons isn't smearing Obama. Questions are now being raised that should have been raised months ago.

    Posted by Spengler47 at 03/17/2008 @ 10:15am

53. The actions of terrorists speak for themselves.

    Posted by ABELL12CT 03/17/2008 @ 10:12am

    Exactly. When their attacks are less intense..."the Surge is working".

    When their attacks intensify..."they're trying to effect the outcome of the election"! (Oh, but "the Surge will still be working when that happens").

    It's all perfectly clear with ABELLOGIC!

    Posted by Mask at 03/17/2008 @ 10:15am

54. Posted by SPENGLER47 03/17/2008 @ 10:15am

    The obvious thing is...this caught Obama off-guard and it shouldn't have.

    He's been fairly smart upto now about this stuff...already blunting (no pun) the drug questions and easily turn aside most of Hillary's attacks.

    And he probably figured with Wright retiring, he could call all this "old news"...IF it had broken during the Fall Campaign.

    But going into Pennsylvania, bad timing for this kind of stuff to re-appear. He should have gotten it aside much earlier.

    Posted by Mask at 03/17/2008 @ 10:18am

55. ABell-What are the terrorists doing that you feel you can conclude that they want a democrat elected?Of course,we know from 9/11 that terrorists would be too scared to attack with a Republican in office and we know that Osama is scared of Republicans now that he is on death row in a US federal prison.

    Posted by i'm nobody at 03/17/2008 @ 10:31am

56. The vile anti-semitism among American Blacks is equal to and sometimes worse than the hatred of Jews in Arab countries. Jews account for less than 2% of the population in America. They are teachers, lawyers, accountants, doctors, salesman, computer programmers, etc., etc. Jews do not head the oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, automobile companies, or major manufacturers and are normal, every day citizens in normal every day jobs. The President and Vice President are not Jews, neither is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or the Speaker of the House of Representatives. There is no candidate running for President who is Jewish, but yet Blacks intensely hate Jews FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER. When Tim Russert asked Obama about Farrakhan Obama did respond correctly about healing the breach between Blacks and Jews but how can you heal the breach when you sat there for twenty years hearing your pastor attack Jews and you kept silent? If Hillary Clinton or John McCain were enthusiastic members of a church for twenty years that constantly and openly demeaned and debased Blacks with vile hateful rhetoric do you really believe the Democratic and Republican parties would allow them to be their nominee? There is a double standard and the Pied Piper of Chicago is getting away with something no white politician who sat idly by while their pastor's anti-semitic rantings continued without end would ever be granted a pass on.

    Posted by mjkoch at 03/17/2008 @ 10:35am

57. This is so sad He is an old Pastor now retired If you listen to his comments with an open mind, some are not so hateful but very true as interepeted by his age group. The comments about Obama being a black man are true and sounds like he just loves Obama like a proud uncle.

    Posted by doodlebug at 03/17/2008 @ 12:00pm

58. "If you listen to his comments with an open mind, some are not so hateful..."---Posted by DOODLEBUG 03/17/2008 @ 12:00pm

    OBAMA called them "incendiary" and rejected them....does he not have an "open mind"?

    Posted by Mask at 03/17/2008 @ 12:18pm

59. Posted by MJKOCH 03/17/2008 @ 10:35am

    MJKOCH, colored folk dislike jews for a variety of reasons. But, you would have to live in minority community to know that.

    Posted by ACook at 03/17/2008 @ 12:59pm

60. MJKoch-White Christians and Arabs have a history of killing Jews,but blacks don't.Personally,I'd rather someone talked bad about me than killed me,but that's just me..

    Posted by i'm nobody at 03/17/2008 @ 1:09pm

61. Posted by SPENGLER47 03/17/2008 @ 10:15am

    Hmmm...worst case scenario, deep down inside, Obama is really Farrakhan. He is surrounded by old 520 or so, white dudes, presided over by 7 white dudes, a white woman and a, um, controversially conservative black man, looking for the re-elective support of a predominantly white population.

    We need to be concerned about what exactly?

    Posted by Malcontent at 03/17/2008 @ 1:20pm

62. I have to admit Trinity is not a church for everyone. If you aren't looking for a church where EVERYONE is welcomed and made to feel at home, a church that is active and has strong ties to ALL communities not just their own, a church that educates and empowers it's congregation to live according to God's will, and is about action and not just talk.....then I admit it's not the church for you. But it's the perfect church for me! Every time I walk out of Trinity's doors I feel recharged & empowered!

    Before you start to judge or discredit Trinity, be sure to do your own diligent research. I DARE YOU. And you'll see that Trinity's reputation (it's REAL reputation) speaks for itself.

    www.tucc.org http://www.youtube.com/user/TRINITYCHGO

    -"Unashamedly Black & Unapologetically Christian" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iDolazctM0 _________ Rev. Wright - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOdlnzkeoyQ&feature=related

    Senator McCain's Pastor - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMaaDbGgsKA

    Posted by Chicago2008 at 03/22/2008 @ 12:22am