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.”
Hey voters! Wake up!!!! Obama has no real plans for the real issues, just some great speeches. Don’t fall for that again! Hillary has a plan, agree or not, at least she has a plan, and she listens to those who can improve them. We need her leadership, we need someone with respect from the rest of the civilized world, we need the most qualified person as president!
We don’t need racist, we don’t need speeches, we don’t need discrimination.
Question for thought: Why is it, if an American named person turns Muslim that they must change their name to a Muslim name, but if a Muslim converts to “Christian”, why don’t they pick a Christian name?
Two peas same pod
Mr. Goldblatt, are you Jewish? Because if you are Jewish, you have the wonderful privilege of being Pro-Jewish, having your own spaces where you remember the German Holocaust, where you learn Hebrew, where you have your Bat and Bar Mitzvahs, just everything Jewish.
But when we African Americans try and do the same thing — we are criticized and not given the same right of other ethnic groups to Protect their heritage, history, etc.
Being Pro-Jewish or Pro-Chinese or Pro-Latino is not interpreted as being Anti-White. But the moment we go Pro-Black, this attempt to heal from the deep wounds that we continue to suffer in America is labeled and stigmatized as being Anti-White.
You and people like you need to examine your own motives — your own heart. Is there fear there? Jealousy? Hatred? Rage? Perhaps you are displacing your anger towards Black People so that you might be accepted by the Majority Culture. If you sense that they are against Black People who love being Black, perhaps your writings against African Americans embracing their culture and talking about the continued problems that they experience in America is reflective of your deeper and hidden need to be a part of the In Crowd called White America.
Think about what I’ve said.. We as African Americans love you and want you to be healthy. May God bless you with God’s deeper light of truth.
• God’s way or your own wicked one? Its your choice.
I am not a christian but was forced to read the bible as a child. I was taught that you can take one of two spiritual paths in life. One path is to serve God and the other is to serve your own self interest.
Doe’s anyone really think God favors a spiritual leader bent on spreading hate against others? No. How about HIS chosen (Jews). Obama’s spiritual leader should read John 3:16 and restructure his church goal to spread love and understanding. For the these followers posting and reading this here is a sample to use as a guide. ( This Church is inspired to continue its efforts and Spirit-driven desire to do God’s work, delivering the Gospel to “as many people as possible, as clearly as possible, as irresistibly as possible, and as quickly as possible – all to God’s glory.”)
• Race or reality?
Most Americans are really of multi-Ethnical origins. The strange thing is that Obama and his spiritual leader are not fully black. A simple DNA test would show that. They are multi-ethnic, Im sure science could prove that. We as Americans are a multi-ethnic nation. We think we are white, black, irish, german, but we are really just human.
• Dam a America ( the multi-ethnic nation )
It is hard for me to believe that some feel America is the worst place on the planet to be, and that people with partial origins from Africa would be better in a having a nation of only them.
I challenge those who think this way to view the BBC news of the African continent from country to country only to see it for what it is. Maybe from this you will learn to LOVE our nation. The nation of many immigrants and people. Reprogram your mind with this simple pledge ( I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
• Media hype or truth
We as Americans do not know if Obama feels the way his spiritual leader doe’s. We can not jump to false conclusions based on media hype. We do not know if this was a thought out political attack against him. I believe if Obama could bring Jobs back to the USA. Make the official language of the united states English. Help the Mexican immigrants find a path to pay taxes. Create a affordable health care system.
As far as Obama as president = maybe
We need change, Dollars and cents.
Have a great day.
The dirty Sinner
Thank you Fox News!
Keep up the good work!
God Bless America ~
and God Bless Fox News!
Several years ago on Law and Order, the district attorney Stone said to a African-American lawyer. “If it makes you feel better to call me a racist then do so but if you want to know where racism starts today look in the mirror”. Yes the African-Americans were treated badly but that was years ago. Stop your whining and get over it, you have more rights now than any white person has ever had. Reading this article has given me to re-think my support of Obama.
How this soooo angers me!!
And they all call themselves CHRISTIANS…..pure hypocrites!!!!
And as for Obaba, an active member of the church for 20 years, (according to the press)…
Is he not one of the Shepard’s (Pastor’s) lambs?
The Pastor is seen as ‘the Shepard of the Flock”, ‘a messenger of God’…Some message he carries to his congregation!!
Does Pastor Wright believe that his heaven & hell are ‘traditionally” black like his congregation??
In order to believe, you must first AGREE!!! And if Obama did not agree with the Pastor’s attitude OR preachings, he seems to be the type to have done something about it BEFORE he got caught on the wrong side of ethical.
I certainly can’t believe that Obama did not understand and subscribe to the ‘preachings’ of HIS religious leader since these prejudice ’sermons’ were peached often, & long before Obama appointed the Pastor (Wright) as his Campaign’s Spiritual Advisor/Leader.
Would it not, therefore, seem that Obama is on the same page as Pastor Wright and his Church of Christ? After all, to attend a church for that long a time, you not only have to like the
pastor(s), you have to ‘believe’ his words and ‘agree’ with his attitude, not only the prayers.
Anyone who thinks that this was a mere, ‘crazy uncle’ a bit out of control, ’saying things in the heat of a moment’ had better think again…….I hear and see this attitude too often and can only hope, helplessly, for America’s youth.
OBAMA NOT THE ANSWER!!! We DO NOT deserve this …….
& Has anyone thought about whom his appointees may possibly be????
God Bless America….
Its sad to see so many white people calling a black preacher racist or racial for a few angry words. All this time and effort to point out a few angry moments. Could they honestly believe that Obama’s character could be lead by those few moments? That’s absurd! Do any of these people with harsh words have any notion of the history of African-Americans? If they did, they could only understand as most Blacks do, that its only the love of God that doesn’t make us angrier. Its only the blood of Jesus that washes away many of our historical hurts.
I wonder if the name-calling whites in this disussion ever spent this amount of time being critical of their own racist white people throughout the US history and in their communities today. Of course not, they only see those angry moments of a black preacher. They find the need to show their superiority by judging the words of a black person talking to other black people, but yet fail to see their over-reaction, their projection, and their own harsh words as troubling at best. If this ridiculous state of denial wasn’t so bizarre it would be laughable.
God bless you Mr Obama, you’ll need it.
Obama reportedly distanced himself from Wright more than a year ago. Yet he claims he never heard any such sermon and was not aware of the hate sermons and is still a member of the church and remains close to Wright. There is something wrong with this picture.
[...] is a racist of the worst kind is indisputable–all you have to do is watch him to understand the hatred he preaches. This is the kind of hatred that Barack Obama has listened to and admired for more than 20 years– [...]