Obama’s Pastor’s Sermon: ‘God Damn America’
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., senior pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, March 2005. (Trinity United Church of Christ/Religion News Service)
In a fiery sermon taped and available on DVD, Barack Obama’s longtime pastor and spiritual adviser can be seen and heard saying three times: “God damn America.”
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., in his taped sermons, also questioned America’s role in the spread of the AIDS virus and suggested that the United States bore some responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Confronting the content of some of Wright’s sermons, parts of which have been aired this week on FOX News, Obama on Friday moved to condemn the remarks in his firmest statement on the matter to date, after initially stopping short of a full repudiation.
“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.”
Obama said he never personally heard Wright preach the statements at the center of the controversy, but that he first learned of them when he launched his presidential campaign.
Click here to read the full Obama statement.
Wright’s supporters say his Afro-centric sermons accurately portray black America, and they contend his sermons are widely studied by theologians. But critics are now calling attention to his more incendiary words from the pulpit.
The pastor delivered his final sermon last month and retired as leader of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Obama has attended the church for 20 years and calls Wright his spiritual adviser.
Click here to visit the Trinity United Church of Christ’s Web site.
In a fiery sermon in April 2003, Wright said: “The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes three-strike laws and wants them to sing God Bless America.
“No! No No!
“God damn America … for killing innocent people.
“God damn America for threatening citizens as less than humans.
“God damn America as long as she tries to act like she is God and supreme.”
In DVD copies of his sermons available for purchase, Wright can also be seen questioning America’s role in the spreading of the HIV virus that leads to AIDS. In another speech, made in the days after 9/11, he suggested that American foreign policy invited the terror attacks.
“We bombed Hiroshima. We bombed Nagasaki. And we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye,” Wright said.
“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because of stuff we have done overseas is now brought back into our own backyard. America is chickens coming home to roost.”
The pastor also said: “The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. The government lied.”
Amid calls to fully repudiate Wright, the Obama campaign said late Thursday it has distanced itself from certain Wright comments.
“Senator Obama has said before that he profoundly disagrees with some of the statements and positions of Reverend Wright, who has preached his last sermon as pastor at the church,” Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said. “Senator Obama deplores divisive statements whether they come from his supporters, the supporters of his opponent, talk radio, or anywhere else.”
That preceded the lengthy campaign statement issued Friday.
Last year, Obama rescinded an invitation to Wright to deliver the invocation at his announcement that he was running for president. He also issued a statement saying personal attacks have no place in politics after Wright delivered an attack on Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton.
But Obama’s longtime relationship with Wright is continuing to spark controversy.
“This is not just someone that Barack Obama has a casual relationship with,” said Tom Bevan, executive editor of RealClearPolitics.com. He noted that Wright married Barack and Michelle Obama, and Wright’s words were the inspiration for the title of Obama’s book, “The Audacity of Hope.”
“Barack Obama has not out and out distanced himself from all of these comments … ,” Patricia Murphy, editor of CitizenJanePolitics.com, said before the campaign responded Friday. “It’s unclear if he rejects all of these statements. I would assume that he does, but I think he is going to be pushed where he needs to come out and fully explain his relationship with his pastor.”
Some of Wright’s statements have raised eyebrows at a time the Internal Revenue Service is scrutinizing tax-exempt religious organizations for alleged violations of rules barring them from participating in political campaigns.
Prior to his retirement last month, Wright delivered commentary from the pulpit in which he praised Obama, as well as remarks focusing on the racial divide between Obama and Clinton.
“There is a man here who can take this country in a new direction,” Wright said during his Jan. 13 sermon.
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 a 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.”
So far the Clinton campaign has been quiet over Wright’s comments.
Wright has declined interview requests from FOX News.
FOX News’ Jeff Goldblatt contributed to this report.
And when you thought that we were doing good. I believe that some of his remarks may be offensive, but some of his remarks are also true. Do the research? He was brought last year, and the only reason that this has resurfaced was because of what Geraldine said. If she never got the reaction she did out of that then I believe this would had never been brought up again. What she said is an opinion, not a fact. She let out saying that the same thing goes for Hillary. If her last name wasn’t Clinton and if she wasn’t a women then she probably wouldn’t have a chance either. Geraldine admits that her gender gave her an advantage when she ran for vice president, but did not do the same for Hillary. Just like some people vote for Barack because he is black, there are others out there not voting for him because he is black. Obama’s pastor is right about that America is run mostly by rich white people, that’s a fact. About aids, I am not sure. Hillary does not know what it feels like to be black just like Obama does not know what it feels like to be white. History can be made, but it should not be made for the sake of making it. This does show that America has come a long way, and I think that the media should not even promote things like this because it will draw a division amongst race. Does anyone know anything about Hillary’s pastor?
am a white man that has chosen a black woman as my wife.
My children are just as Obama, multi racial. They are ridiculed by other blacks as being white acting??. But if they ever reach the limelight they will be embraced as BLACK by the BLACK community, just as Tiger Woods. Hypocrisy!
I attend family functions where I am the only “white”. The amazing thing that has occurred during most of these exchanges is that the black side of MY family has discovered a vast amount of commonality in-spite of my whiteness. I endure all kinds of little racial remarks from black friends and family. But let me say something factual and I would be labeled a racist (just like Geraldine) And by the “BLACK” definition as related to me by coworkers and family, I am painfully white.
My Points are this:
The black community as a whole has embraced Farrakhan ( a racist and a murderer by his own admission).
Obama has spent 20 years in Church that honored Farrakhan and the PASTOR is a well defined racist.
An exit poll showed that almost half of the black vote went Obama because of his skin color.
All the world is filled with racist people. There are a few of us that see people through the eyes of the LORD. As in “man looks on the outside, but GOD looks upon the Heart”.
Or translated for the Secular folks. “A man should be judged upon the quality of his character and not the color of his skin”…. That statement was meant for all people, not just “African Americans”.
WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HIS PASTOR CLAIMS TO BE A MAN OF GOD WHEN HIS SERMONS ARE FILLED WITH SUCH HATE TOWARDS WHITE AMERICA. AND TO SAY THAT WE BROUGHT 911 ON OURSELVES IS UNBELIEVABLE!!! I AM OUTRAGED NOT ONLY TOWARDS THIS MAN BUT OBAMA HIMSELF. BY THE WAY, WHY ISN’T MORE SAID ABOUT HIS FAMILY ROOTS? IF HE’S A CHRISTIAN AS HE CLAIMS, THEN WHY IN GODS NAME WOULD HE PROUDLY WEAR A MUSLIM NAME? ARE WE AS A NATION REALLY AS DUMB AS SOME SUGGEST? IT REALLY MAKES ME WONDER. HAVE WE ALREADY FORGOTTEN 911? IT APPEARS THAT WE HAVE. HOW SAD AND HOW FRIGHTENING!
It is no wonder that Obamas Wife is only now proud of america ! If she and her children have been listning to this crap for the past 20 years no wonder she feels that way. GOD help us if the man who took them to this church for all those years is elected to the presidency. I would be very nervous about the kind of change we will see
Obama is a closet racist. “You are known for the company you keep”…… I do believe that statement says it all.
I am a registered republican, but have often switched sides and voted for a democrat when I felt that person was best for our city, state, country, etc. I have been looking very carefully at Obama, and admire him for many reasons. Given a choice between him or Hillary, I would certainly lean his way as I think he is better able to bring all of the people together. However, I am very distrubed by racist and hatred comments made on a regular basis by his pastor. I am disappointed that Mr. Obama seems to take a weak stand on denouncing the views of this evil pastor. If he continues supporting this man, I would certainly be afraid to vote for him.
Thank you Fox News, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity for bringing this to the fore front so
americans can see the real truth about the so called “Uniter” Obama. He is disgusting just as Jeremiah Wright is disgusting. I for one cannot stand the thought of my government and my family being subjected to words, thoughts and eventually deeds from these kinds of men.
How dare the MSM say one word against Geraldine Ferraro’s comments. They are of no significance but this hateful mess that comes from this awful man could be of much significance.
What say ye Americans about the 3 black thugs who murdered 2 wonderful young white women in North Carolina and Alabama last week. I suppose Jeremiah Wright would say that these 3 black thugs should be let go and that our 2 wonderful promising young women caused these black thugs to murder them.
America wake up, this man Obama has to believe just like Jeremiah Wright, else why would he have attended his church for 20 years, perform his marriage ceremony and baptize his 2 kids, not to mention basing that stupid book “Audacity of Hope” on one of Jeremiah Wright’s sermons.
The judgement that Obama brags about having is called into question by his association with Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezco, Bill Ayers and his terrorist wife and this is only a few of the shady characters he is or has been associated with.
I hope no one holds me responsible for what the many pastors I have had over the years have said in their sermons. Yikes! It is not like Obama wrote his sermons, did he? What is this? Grasping at straws to try to give people a reason to mistrust him? Get real!
This man is NUTS……………………He is a RACIST. I can’t believe someone like this that preaches the GOSPEL is or was behind a pulpit. I don’t agree with a lot of what our government has done but his statements are absurd.
Jeremiah Wright is a fool and normal people can see this. Anyone who preaches that much hatred and bitterness cannot call himself a follower of Christ nor a representative of anything Christian .