Obama Rejects Anti-U.S. Sermons From Pastor Who Was ‘Like an Uncle’
Barack Obama denounced controversial sermons Friday by his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., shown here at a funeral service at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago in December 2000. (AP Photo)
Barack Obama describes longtime pastor Jeremiah Wright Jr. as “like an uncle” and a spiritual mentor, but the presidential candidate rejected Wright’s fiery anti-U.S. and politically divisive sermons after days of mounting pressure to do so.
Obama told FOX News Friday that he could no longer lay low as Wright’s past sermons, where he condemned the United States as institutionally racist and blamed the government for HIV and the Sept. 11 attacks, were played in heavy rotation on national television.
“Once I saw them I had to be very clear about the fact that these are not statements that I am comfortable with,” Obama said. “I reject them completely — they are not ones that reflect my values or my ideals or Michelle’s.”
Obama called his remarks “inflammatory and appalling” in a written statement Friday.
Though Obama has known Wright for 20 years, he said the pastor has never been active in his campaign and that he is no longer on his African American Religious Leadership Committee. The campaign said Wright left his unpaid post on the committee Friday, but did not elaborate.
Obama, in the interview Friday with FOX News’ Major Garrett, said he has been a member of the church since the early 1990s after working with the congregation as a community organizer on the south side of Chicago.
Obama married his wife Michelle at Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ, had his children baptized by Wright and donated money to the church, but he said he first learned of many of the pastor’s controversial statements, which FOX News reported on a year ago, only when they were aired in the media in recent days.
“None of these statements were ones I had heard myself personally in the pews,” Obama told FOX News.
He said the sermons now sparking controversy didn’t resemble the sermons he remembers from Wright, which, Obama said, stuck to messages of faith, values and helping people in the community.
Obama’s response came as critics called on the Illinois senator and Democratic presidential candidate to do more to distance himself from Wright, who, in a fiery sermon recorded and available on DVD, can be seen and heard saying three times: “God damn America.”
In his recorded sermons, he also questions America’s role in the spread of the AIDS virus and suggests that the United States bore some responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Obama issued his more forceful statement against the sermons Friday afternoon.
“Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy,” he said in the statement. “I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it’s on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.”
A year ago, Wright defended his beliefs in an often contentious interview on FOX News’ Hannity & Colmes.
“If you’re not going to talk about theology in context, if you’re not going to talk about liberation theology … then you can’t talk about the black value system,” Wright said on the show’s March 1, 2007, broadcast.
Wright said his teachings are based on black liberation theology, which he summed up as “Africans speaking for themselves.”
Wake Forest University professor Terry Matthews, says in a lecture reprinted on the university’s Web site that black liberation theology “seeks to find a way to make the gospel relevant to black people who must struggle daily under the burden of white oppression.”
Wright’s supporters say his sermons accurately portray black America, and they contend his sermons are widely studied by theologians.
“I’ve been at some of those sermons,” the Rev. Dwight Hopkins, a member of the church, told FOX News. “The majority of Wrights’ sermons speak to healing, he challenges the black community … to be more responsible.”
Wright delivered his final sermon last month and retired as leader of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
Obama told FOX News he wouldn’t have quit Wright’s congregation if the pastor’s more controversial statements were isolated, but if that became “the tenor or tone on an ongoing basis of his sermons” Obama said he would have quit.
“Obviously they are ones that are from my perspective completely unacceptable and inexcusable,” Obama said.
With the pastor retiring from the pulpit Obama said he doesn’t see an issue in his family remaining part of the congregation.
“If I thought that was the repeated tenor of the church then I wouldn’t feel comfortable, but frankly that has not been my experience at Trinity United Church of Christ.
After the interview was broadcast Friday night on “Hannity & Colmes,” Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for President Bush, suggested on the show that the controversy and the timing of Obama’s disavowal show him to be little more than a shrewd politician.
“I think there’s a reason Republicans I talk to are increasingly looking forward to running against Barack Obama,” Fleischer said.
Click here to read Obama’s full statement on Wright.
FOX News’ Jeff Goldblatt contributed to this report.
I find it hard to believe that Senator Obama could claim to be unaware of the highly offensive views that are held and very openly broadcast by the person he has paraded as his “spiritual advisor” of the past 20 years. It seems more likely that Obama has actually agreed with those views until lately, when it became a liability for his campaign. Combine this with his wife’s statements about never being proud of this country until now (when her husband just happens to be running for president) and I think a pretty clear picture begins to emerge as to thier beliefs and thier contempt for our great nation.
Obama’s Campaign is about change. It is about change because he wants to improve many of the dynamics in this country, including the racial divide. Many African Americans hold similar views to Wright but many African Americans have also moved past these divisions. Obviously these views are inflammatory and can be considered divisive but every racial group in this country has some feelings of division. Sen. Obama hopes to serve as a bridge to help change these discordant views and bring the country into being a more unified entity. Barack Obama is half black and half white. Certainly having been raised by his white mother from Kansas and growing up in America being viewed as a black man, Sen. Obama has had the opportunity to view intently the highs and lows of race in America. Obama has made it clear that he loves this country and does not subscribe to anyone black, white, or brown disparaging America. He has seen these divisions and hopes to move on from them. As every standing contestant in this presidential race knows it is difficult to condemn and denounce any of your supporters and friends for inflammatory statements. Despite this, Senator Barack Obama has elevated himself from these divisions and made it clear that in the America he believes in, there is no place for disunion.
Yeh right !! Ain’t it amazing how one like Obama can not figure it out on his own , not until his own sorry ass is in the sling over it . Obama is as BIG of a hypocrit as his sorry ass mentor pastor. I hope they enjoy each others company while in the flames of eternity together.
If Senator Obama “rejects” the words from his Pastor/Like an Uncle. Then why did he remain a member of this congregation for 20 years sitting through these slanted sermons that tear apart our country and the races. He will make one hell of a President….will Rev. Wright act as his Secretary of Defense?
I can’t believe that there is any discussion about Wright’s beliefs. You can make excuses for alot of things and the Dems do. But give me a break. GD America.
The government created HIV. We deserve 911. Obama in 2008. Osama in 2009.
He has got to go.
Jack Lemberg
Forest Ranch, California
As a black African i have been following your broadcast and news comments when it comes to Obama.issues concerning Obama will go on and on.Is that reverend the first one to be controversal?his remarks to me are nothing to be an issue.he is a theologian,mostly are politicians.
i cant see an sense why your tv station is all over Obama.pliz leave him alone and report on something else.dont be a racist station.i know you support Hillary and you are trying all means to discredit Obama.
come on all Fox anchors,why dont you have balanced views on issues pertaining to politics like BBC and ALJAZEIRA.if Obama was white this will not hav been an issue.
Some of the Rev’s comments were certainly inappropriate for sure. On the other hand, some of the comments were right on the money, with a poor “delivery”. Some of you are to young to remember the Civil Rights movement of the 60’s. Busses from all over the country carried people of all ethnicities, known as “freedom riders” to the deep south to march with MLK. Some of Rev Wright’s comments are reflective of that time. He’s right that Hillary doesn’t understand or know how hard life can be for someone of color growing up in inner cities with great poverty. The chickens comming home to roost is a true statement and I think we all know it!
Back in the day, it was also hard for poor white people to survive and get ahead. Obama can lift people up, provide a positive role model, and lead us all to a better place in life and spirit. Hillary doesn’t begin to understand what has motivated Rev Wright to make comments like these. Obama does!
OK. sounds bad right. But everyone has a friend, uncle, teacher who said something bad. Does that mean that they will be judged based on wha someone said. No. You can then make the arguement that, “well if he had heard these statements, he should have quit.” OK, fair game but thats not what happened. For a long time, he had heard this man preach Jesus, Love and God and well maybe a few isolated crazy sermons. Are you going to hold him accountable for that. His so called made a mistake, a blunder, inexcusable, but that is not all of him.
I still think there so many ingorant people, irrational people who cannot tell a bad apple and a good one. And I guess his done. Well, He survived being called a muslim terrorist named barack Hussien Osama, I guess he can survive this rubish he had nothing to do with. Fox and Hannity stop spreading hate and show us some of the other 1000 tapes were he preahces love. Hannity especially, if you say we report and you decide, then you ar one delusional reporter because all i have seen is you spreading hate about Obama. His a good guy unlike the guy you have in your mind.
Obama will say anything, this is his mentor, his advisor, this is what’s in Obama and especially his wife’s heart…….his actions (20 year member), not his words, he’ll say anything…………we already knew his wife was a racist, now we know he is too…..
May I inquire as to why my comment concerning this subject has not appeared on your website, or is it just too soon to expect to see it, though I sumbitted it several hours ago.
Thank you