Obama’s Spiritual Mentor May Put Church in Hot Water
(Trinity United Church of Christ/Religion News Service) Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., senior pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, March 2005.
By Jeff Goldblatt
CHICAGO - Barack Obama’s controversial pastor and the church he’s served for 36 years may be in hot water over statements he has made from the pulpit in support of the Illinois senator’s run for the White House.
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. preaches that he follows the righteous path, but when it comes to the federal tax law, his Trinity United Church of Christ may have crossed the line.
Although Wright delivered what was billed as his final sermon last month on his path to retirement, prior to his departure he delivered commentary from the pulpit now being scrutinized in which he praised Obama.
“There is a man here who can take this country in a new direction,” Wright said during his Jan. 13 sermon, according to recordings obtained by FOX News.
It was not the first time Wright appeared to endorse Obama, who was baptized at Trinity United, has been an active member of the church for two decades and receives spiritual mentorship from Wright.
The title of Obama’s second book, “The Audacity of Hope,” was taken from a sermon by Wright.
During a Christmas sermon, Wright tried to compare Obama’s upbringing to Jesus at the hands of the Romans.
“Barack knows what it means living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people,” Wright said. “Hillary would never know that.
“Hillary ain’t never been called a nigger. Hillary has never had a people defined as a non-person.”
In his Jan. 13 sermon, Wright said:
“Hillary is married to Bill, and Bill has been good to us. No he ain’t! Bill did us, just like he did Monica Lewinsky. He was riding dirty.”
FOX News purchased the video recordings of Wright’s sermons from the church.
“It’s pretty clear an indirect endorsement of Barack Obama - that’s not something you’re supposed to do according to the tax code,” said Andrew Walsh, a professor at Trinity College who specializes in religion in politics.
The tax code bans churches from participating in or intervening in a political campaign. Violations can result in the loss of a church’s tax exempt status.
The Obama campaign issued a statement in response to FOX News’ inquiries about Wright’s sermons.
“Senator Obama has said repeatedly that personal attacks such as this have no place in this campaign or our politics, whether they’re offered from a platform at a rally or the pulpit of a church,” said Bill Burton, a campaign spokesman.
“Senator Obama does not think of the pastor of his church in political terms. Like a member of his family, there are things he says with which Senator Obama deeply disagrees.”
Click here to visit Trinity United Church of Christ Web site.
Obama defended Wright’s longtime activism for blacks in America last week at a campaign event in Ohio.
“Jeremiah Wright … has said some things that are considered controversial because he’s considered that part of his social gospel,” Obama said.
The Internal Revenue Service wouldn’t comment on whether it is looking into potential tax violations at Trinity United. The church declined to make Wright available for an interview.
Congregant Dwight Hopkins, a professor of Theology at the University of Chicago, said there is no basis for the IRS to go after the church.
“From the church side they will say it’s theology,” said. “If it wasn’t a senator running for president and it wasn’t his church, then I think we could say all kinds of things.”
The IRS has written dozens of letters warning churches against political advocacy from the pulpit. Yet it has revoked a church’s tax-exempt status only twice in the last half-century.
Walsh said it’s not typical for the IRS to enforce the rules.
“There’s a tension here between the desires of the religious leaders to say important things in the public marketplace and the IRS rules, and so most of the time, the IRS does not enforce these rules,” Walsh said.
The public scrutiny of these sermons comes in the wake of last month’s revelation by the head of the United Church of Christ that the IRS is investigation a speech Obama gave at the denomination’s national conference last year in Connecticut.
In a certified letter, Marsha Ramirez, IRS director, EO Examinations, wrote:
“Our concerns are based on articles posted on several Web sites including the church’s which state the United States Presidential Candidate Senator Barack Obama addressed nearly 10,000 church members gathered at the United Church of Christ’s biennial General Synod at the Hartford Civic Center, on June 23, 2007. In addition, 40 Obama volunteers staffed campaign tables outside the center to promote his campaign.”
The church and the Obama campaign have denied that any inappropriate political advocacy occurred during this speech.
Wright’s sermons often address themes of white supremacy and black repression, and critics have called them racially divisive.
Some remarks attributed to Wright that have been posted on the Internet and cited in press accounts include:
“Fact number one: We’ve got more black men in prison than there are in college.
“Fact number two: Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run.
“We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns and the training of professional killers. … We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God. … We conducted radiation experiments on our own people. … We care nothing about human life if the ends justify the means.
“And … And … And! God! Has got! To be sick! Of this shit!”
Click here to hear an audio clip of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. WARNING: Contains offensive language.
Once Wright’s remarks were widely publicized last year, Obama backed out of his plans for his pastor to speak at his Feb. 10 presidential announcement.
Obama met Wright after college while working with local churches in Chicago to tackle problems of drug abuse and unemployment in inner-city neighborhoods. Wright preached an Afrocentric theology that interpreted the Bible through shared suffering of African Americans.
For Obama, this experience was a spiritual turning point. He has written that he had been exposed to various faiths during his life but never formally adopted one until after meeting Wright.
“Inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones,” he wrote in his memoir, “Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance.”
“Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story.”
I am not Black or White. Neither am I orginally from this country, but I have great appreciation for this country. In all honesty, I have to say that many African Americans are SO sensitive about their own race that no one can say anything about them. Why do they blame others for a greater percentage of their race in prison or having lower education. Gosh! Get a hold of yourself and do a reality check. Yes, America treated you so bad in the past. Heck! That’s in the bygones. You are no longer slaves. You are FREE to come and go. Leave then if this place sucks for you. I think the country would fare better if people can be more harmonious and forgiving. Why do the past still have to be part of today’s gospel? I thought the God expressed in the Christian bible is all about reconcilation, forgiveness, healing and wholeness? What has race got to do with the church ANYWAY??? I think that the pastor is very accountable for his words, no matter how people would excuse him. He talked about Hiroshima, 911 etc.. without qualifying facts. (By the way, I am thankful America did what she had to do with Hiroshima.) The pastor did use the church and his influence as a platform for his political agenda. As for Obama, I have been wary of him from the get go. He says whatever the majority likes to hear and they vote for him. This vexes me about the irrationality of many Amercians. I wish more would vote with their heads not their emotions. No matter how he defends himself or how the media likes to take his side, the facts are there. He also previously endorsed the muslim leader Farahkan only to “denounce” him recently. And now he is denouncing his Pastor’s “Comments”. Can he be clearer to all of us as to what he really stands for and who he really is.
WITH ALL THE DEMOCRATIC HOOPLA ABOUT THE RACE CARD BEING PLAYED BY
OBAMA AND THE CLINTON CAMPAIGN, THINKS THIS RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE
IS IN THE BAG? THEY WILL BE SADLY MISTAKEN.
THERE ARE REAL ISSUES BEING DECIDED THAT WILL MAKE THEM
THE FOIL FOR THE SPOILERS.
THEIR ANTICS AND TACTICS WILL BACKFIRE ON THEM COME NOVEMBER.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE NOT STUPID, NOR IGNORANT OF THE CHARGES
BEING LEVELED AT THE DEMOCRATS, AND, THE REPUBLICANS, ADMINISTRATION.
THEIR OWN TACTICS AND OBSTRUCTIONISM IN THE SENATE AND THE CONGRESS,
HAVE MADE THEM AND BACKED THEM INTO A CORNER.
NOW THE REPUBLICANS, ALSO HAVE THEIR FAIR SHARE OF BLAME,
BUT THIS IS NOT ABOUT THAT.
IT IS ABOUT WHATS BEST FOR THE COUNTRY AND THE NATION AS A WHOLE, NOT AS SEPERATISTS AND DEVISIVENESS OF; THE, PARTY LINE. NOT, WITHSTANDING THE BACKLASH OF THEIR NEGATIVITY AND CONDENSATION TO THE FAR LEFT WING AND ADAMENT POLITICAL RETORIC.
THAT WILL AFFECT NOTHING BUT, MOORE AND MOVE-ON, THEM TO DEFEAT
AND MORE GRIDLOCK IN THE CONGRESS AND THE SENATE!
WITH VETO AFTER VETO FROM THE WHITE HOUSE FOR THEIR OBNOXIOUS AND ARRAGANT CONDUCT; OF THE COUNTRIES BUSINESS AND OUR, INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY, INTERESTS AROUNT THE WORLD.
DON’T EVER FORGET, AND NEVER COMPLAIN ABOUT THIS ADMINISTRATION WHEN THE
PARTY POLITIC OF THE (DEMOCRATS) ARE THE INSTIGATOR OF THE CURRENT CRISIS
IN THE ECONOMIC SECTORS. AS WELL AS,
“THE DEFENSE! OF THIS NATION, AND THE BORDERS.”
AND THE ILLEGAL IMIGRATION, ISSUES ALL ARE THE DECIDING FACTORS!
THEY MUST ADDRESS THESE ISSUES BEFOR THEY GET TO THE NOVEMBER GENERAL ELECTION.
AND MR. McCAIN; IS OUT DOING THE JOB OF THE COUNTRY WITH HIS UPCOMMING
OVERSEAS VISITS THAT, WILL HAVE THE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW TO
STRENGTHEN OUR DEFENSE AND INTERNATIONAL ALLIES SUPPORT FOR THE WAR ON TERROR.
IN OTHER WORDS, BEING THE RIGHT CANDIDATE TO DATE; FOR AS HE IS CONSENTRATING ON; THE WORLD VIEW, AND THE BIG PICTURE, THE DEMOCRATS HAVE IGNORED AND ARE BLIND TO, WITH THEIR HATE OF BUSH AND BASHING THIS COUNTRY WITH THEIR, SOCIALIST DOGMA AND AGENDA.
THEIR CONVENTION AND THE SUPER DELEGATS, WILL NOT GET EITHER ONE OF THEM ELECTED, IN NOVEMBER. FOR THE REPUBLICANS AND THE PEOPLE WILL TAKE ALL THIS INTO CONSIDERATION; FOR THEIR SELECTION IN THE NOVEMBER ELECTION.
END TRANS: MARV!
If obama was to be president i would be afraid for the u.s.a because for one he says “he will bring all troops home” leaving our country vulnerable to more severe terriorist attacks which would make the sacrifices of those who have died to be in vain.#2 his preacher if you call him that speaks against americans coming together. He preaches hatred and lies for obama to associate with this person makes one question what kind of president he would be christians other faiths black white all colors we are one in gods eyes. His preacher uses gods name in vain three times i know you will say i’ve taken it out of context but not so if you listen closely.
virginia resident.
He just lost my vote. You cannot be so close to someone for 20 years and not share or at the very least condone or tolerate their viewpoint. I do not believe Rev. Wright woke up one day with these values and beliefs. I am sickened that Senator Obama considers him a mentor, or worse yet compares to an “uncle”. I fear the hatred he may be hiding. McCain in 08.
get off the campain now obama and take your killer and drunk ted kennedy with you .you are a lier and a tradior and you need to go back to your own home and American does not want you or need you .by the way thanks to your mentor wright for exposing you for what you truly are .
with wright being racest then it only makes sence for obama to be an american tradior and a blaton lier for the simple reason he for twenty years attended this church and called wright his mentor.and no respecting american blooded would never think of voting for this lying fool obama for president.whats he going to do paint it black?please get this idiot off the campain now.
hes nothing but a laughing stock.and the people in iowa wished they could do their votes over .they are so ashamed .and him being senitor of illinois is because he was the only one being that on the ticket to run ,other wise he would have lost that as well .so there get the facts straight.
My initial thought was that Dr. Wright feels the need to preach sermons like the one in the clip you have worn out over the airwaves to help people in his congregation deal with commentators who must have some illusion that African Americans aren’t still being oppressed on many levels today. It happens even in the corporate world. This sermon is shocking only to white people, who it wasn’t being preached to in the first place.
People are ignoring the thunderous applause from the congregation who were on their feet, which is the indication that his listeners related to and understood his comments in a context that obviously white people can never understand. It would be nice to go to church for spiritual renewal only, but from an African American perspective, the church has also been where we go for social and political strength renewal. For centuries it has also been our place to plan our defense against social, legal and political injustices. Many activities of Civil Rights Movement were planned and executed from African American churches and pulpits as well. It’s not about separation of church and state for African American people, it’s about having a place to go to compare notes on the struggle and seek strength to continue to fight the battles many of us face in all areas of our lives.
Rev. Wright was speaking to a specific group of people in a particular circumstance, and unless you were there in the congregation that morning, and know why he felt the people of his congregation needed to hear that particular message that morning, possibly because of a negative incident someone experienced, no one has a right to comment that it was racist. I’m sure he hasn’t preached a sermon on that same topic every Sunday for the past 36 years he has pastored that church. People are trying to base his entire ministry on a 30-second sound bite.
I have been a pastor’s wife for 26 years, and my husband would never want members of his congregation to be blamed on a personal level for a stance he took on an issue in a sermon; nor would he, or anyone else, expect people to leave the church or denounce him or it everytime someone disagreed with something he said. I have been in church all my life, and have never seen every member of a congregation and a pastor be in total agreement on hardly any issue, large or small. Human nature itself prohibits it.
Dr. Wright wasn’t campaigning, he was making a statement to his congregation about a public issue that has an impact on people in his congregation, This coverage is overkill about a topic no one should comment on if you don’t understand the nature and role of the church in the African American community.
White? Black? Not the point in my estimation.
I am a Native American and find the words coming from Obama’a “spiritual advisor” very scary indeed.
Whatever happened to ‘what ever is goodly, lovely, edifying, etc.. think on these things’ ?
We are expected to believe that in the twenty years of his attending this church that Obama has never heard these things coming from the pulpit?
Yeah, I bet you have some beads to sell me for my land too.
sly as a fox, I say unto you, refrain from barack obama, and leave him along, for if this counsel or this work be of men it will come to nought, BUT if it be of GOD, ye can not overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against GOD. (THEOMACHEO) DIGGING IN THE GARBAGE CAN, CANNOT overthrow the plain of GOD,Judge not that ye be not judged MAT.7:1. what happen to the seperation of church and state (law)? those who make the law is the one who brakes them,what happen to freedom of speach? what happen to all men are created equal.
After hearing these remarks no wonder Obama does not wear the AMERICAN FLAG on his coat. Maybe there is more to this story then we know?