Obama’s Church Fires Back
File; Barack Obama with Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. (AP Photo)
The Chicago church attended by Barack Obama is fighting back against media coverage of its controversial pastor, issuing a statement on Sunday, saying reports on the inflammatory remarks by Rev. Jeremiah Wright are an attempt to attack “the history of the African American church.”
“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,” the leaders of Trinity United Church of Christ wrote Sunday in a statement distributed to the media.
Claiming that Wright’s 36 years as pastor of the church — the largest United Church of Christ congregation, with 8,000 members — is being demeaned, Rev. John H. Thomas, UCC general minister and president, said, “It saddens me to see news stories reporting such a caricature of a congregation that has been such a blessing to the UCC’s Wider Church mission … It’s time for us to say ‘No’ to these attacks and declare that we will not allow anyone to undermine or destroy the ministries of any of our congregations in order to serve their own narrow political or ideological ends.”
Neither Wright nor Obama was present at the church on Sunday, but all of talk news has been on the subject of the pastor, whose many sermons have been captured on video and replayed across television and the Internet over the past few weeks.
Some of the more flamboyant sermons have included statements saying that the U.S. created the AIDS virus to kill African Americans and that the United States was asking for the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks because it had supported “state-sponsored terrorism” against black South Africans and Palestinian
Obama’s campaign has tried to distance the candidate from his Wright, the man who coined the phrase “the audacity of hope” that became the title of Obama’s bestselling book.
Speaking in a conference call on Sunday, Obama’s advisers acknowledged that the pastor was supposed to appear at the announcement of Obama’s presidential campaign last year, but was cut from the program in part because they knew he was controversial and didn’t want him to become a target or distraction, both of which he nows appears to be.
But even as attention is focused on Obama, Hillary Clinton’s supporters have refrained from pouncing on the opportunity to link Obama to his 20-year-long spiritual adviser.
“I mean, as you know, I prefer Senator Clinton for a whole lot of reasons, but I don’t cast aspersions on Senator Obama for what somebody else said,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told “FOX News Sunday.”
Calling Trinity’s social justice and outreach programs “inclusive and global” Moss added that not much has changed since the era of Martin Luther King’s sermons for equality. He claimed that African American churches, “born out of the crucible of slavery and the legacy of prophetic African American preachers since slavery” continue to treat marginalized victims of social and economic injustices in the face of prejudice.
“This is an attack on the legacy of the African American Church which led and continues to lead the fight for human rights in America and around the world,” he said, adding “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.”
Click here to read the Trinity United Church of Christ statement.
FOX News’ Caroline Shively contributed to this report.
Not attack on anyone’s religion. Merely a poor, misguided preacher being exposed as a hate monger. Race has nothing to do with bad preaching.
Kind of reminds me of the “Preacher” who blamed George W. Bush for Hurricane Katrina…remember, the government has a special weather machine that makes hurricanes and the government did it because the government hates the black man.
So now Obama’s church and Wright are the victims? Poor things.
Wright’s hate speech and lies are familiar to FoxTV watchers because Wright has spewed this venom for us to witness on numerous shows.
I have read many of the posts above and I cannot believe that people believe this is some political trick? Did the Republicans manufacture these tapes? Did the Clinton Camp? NOOOOOO!! This “Doctor” stood infront of his congregation, made RACIST REMARKS, all to the AMEN of his congregation! How many times did Barrak and Michelle Obama sit in that congregation and shout AMEN to the same tirades?
The future leader of the Free World needs to be tolerant of all walks of life. Needs to support and spread diversity. I do not want a First Lady that is Ashamed of America. If you do not believe in this country then how can you lead it?
This report gets right to the heart of many hidden issues with the Obama camp and his supporters just cant stand it. That is why you truly want to believe this is a political trick.
If I could take back my vote for Obama…I WOULD! He will not get it again.
I have no desire to hear any excuses from the congregation or officials at TUCC. They didn’t care enough to put a stop to the rhetoric throughout the years all this hate was spouted.
As far as I am concerned, this shows a true reflection of the judgment and alliances that Obama possessed. He simply can’t be trusted.
if you support the republican party where you have president that kill million of people in the middle east and fox just look the other way,the public cannot belive the kind of news reporting that you are during, if you go back and pull some of the things that has been said on your station you;re see that you will on the front page every day but we are still going to support the democrate party but if they do anything to steal this like your show is trying to help do because we know that you are afraid that a black man might win so fox news has got to try and help because you know that you have a weak old person in the republican party and belive this is the way to to go but it will not work because if hillary get it fair she will be president,but any thing other than that won’t work . and who can speak more hate than fox like sean hannity, chris mathis. so look at yourself and see who preach hate just look at the guess you have on your fox news i just say what ever God has for the election nothing you or your station will do to stop it. i know you are not going to read this but it does not matter because God knows, and the next person that do get in the white house it will be the will of God not fox news. so be careful how you try to bring down the will of the people. and may God bless the u.s.a
I think the major news stations are avoiding the biggest clue as to the true colors of Obama. He has lied continuously and the proof is in the pudding.
Sen. Obama was not only a member of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ for twenty years, he continued to attend even after Louis Farrakhan was awarded the churches highest honor. It is no wonder Farrakhan endorsed him. I guess Farrakhan thought that since Minister Wright and the church gave him an award Obama thought highly of him as well.
Obama is caught in a rough spot here. His refusal to leave the church in itself means that he believes in the church and thus Farrakhan. And “yes”, that is way more than enough reason to leave a church. Even now he refuses to leave the church!
All this tells a lot about Obama’s true character and decision making. He must believe highly in his church. High enough to risk the Presidency. At least he did quit smoking.
This MR. Wright(I refuse to call him reverend), is not preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, he is preaching the gospel of HATE, BIGOTRY, and CONTEMT, for the United States. Obama has been associated with this idiot for 20 years, don’t tell me he (obama) did not know this was his way of preaching and thinking. Obama tries to take me as a fool that he did not know his pastor would say these kind of things. I bet that he has preached this way in the past so Obama had to know where his pastor stood, but yet Obama remaines a member of this communist church. If Obama stayed associated with this church, he must have agreed with most of what this church and the prwacher stood for. If Mr. Wright hates this country, then let him get the HELL out of it.
HAHAHA! an attack on the African American Church??? I THINK NOT! No one is saying that black churches are bad. People who say that the US “invented” HIV/AIDS and supply drugs “to keep the black man down” shouldnt have a microphone. This guy IS Anti-American and in my opinion, he’s a flat out racist. There’s NO WAY Obama has never heard ANY of these outlandishly false statements before last week. And to simply say that he condemns the statements, yet is still a member of this church, is unacceptable. I am so sick of the attitude held by the general black population in this country that their problems are always someone else’s fault, and always looking for a hand out. I went to help victims of Katrina soon after it happened. As i was handing out bottled water and sandwiches, i had people(all of them black) COMPLAINING that they were not being given more. i was VOLUNTEERING. i dont HAVE to give anyone ANYTHING, and i damn sure wont again any time soon.
if you run with the wolves, you will howl like the wolves! this is the end of Obama. Mrs. Clinton should say nothing on this topic and she has it all!!