In Easter Sermon, New Obama Pastor Charges Rev. Wright Victim of ‘Lynching’
In sermon at Trinity United Church of Christ on Easter Sunday, Rev. Jeremiah Wright was compared to Jesus Christ for facing aggressive media in wake of anti-American remarks. Wright was not present at the sermon. (AP Photo)
CHICAGO — The new pastor of Barack Obama’s church delivered a defiant defense of its retiring reverend Sunday, comparing media coverage of Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. to a modern-day lynching that resembles Jesus’ death at the hands of the Romans.
In a sunrise Easter sermon, Rev. Otis Moss III never mentioned Wright by name, but implied that his mentor, who has delivered sermons in which he likened the U.S. to the Ku Klux Klan and declared it damned for its “state-sponsored terrorism,” is facing the same challenges Jesus did.
“No one should start a ministry with lynching, no one should end their ministry with lynching,” Moss said.
“The lynching was national news. The RNN, the Roman News Network, was reporting it and NPR, National Publican Radio had it on the radio. The Jerusalem Post and the Palestine Times all wanted exclusives, they searched out the young ministers, showed up unannounced at their houses, tried to talk with their families, called up their friends, wanted to get a quote on how do you feel about the lynching?” he continued.
The criticism surrounding Wright has not softened the services at Trinity United Church of Christ, where Obama has been a congregant for 20 years. Instead, Moss defiantly defended their method of worship, referencing rap lyrics to make his point.
“If I was Ice Cube I’d say it a little differently — ‘You picked the wrong folk to mess with,’” Moss said to an enthusiastic congregation, standing up during much of the sermon, titled “How to Handle a Public Lynching.”
Wright’s sermons were criticized for casting the country as institutionally racist and Obama sharply condemned Wright’s remarks as racially divisive in a high-profile speech Tuesday, though the candidate would not renounce the pastor himself. Church officials said Wright, who is now on sabbatical and entering retirement after nearly 40 years of service with the church, was not attending any service Sunday.
Obama and his family were spending Easter on vacation and also were not attending services.
Though the church recently moved a once-prominent section on its Web site about the “Black Value System,” the congregation still describes itself as “unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian.” A plaque states this prominently behind the front desk.
The sermons Sunday, which kept references to Wright as a common thread, implied that the firestorm over Wright’s remarks has taken the church’s teachings out of context.
Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, the first female bishop in the AME Church, also delivered a sermon, in which she talked about visionaries like King and Gandhi and “Jeremiah” (it was unclear whether she meant Wright), and argued that their words weren’t about “anger,” but about “a passion that demands confrontation.”
“The purveyors of information are trying to be judge and jury over prophetic utterances,” she said.
The church program handed out Sunday also included an essay called “Not on My Watch” from the Rev. Samuel B. McKinney of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Seattle. McKinney said he was “greatly disturbed” by the “media feeding frenzy that has tarnished everyone in the process.”
“Dr. Wright represents the best among us … An attack on this man of God is an attack on all those of the cloth who believe in the social Gospel of liberation. And I will not stand for it,” he wrote.
Moss issued several pleas to congregants to donate to what he called the “Resurrection Fund,” stressing that during this time of battle, money is needed to defend the church. He offered no additional specifics about the fund, telling churchgoers he didn’t want to get into it because Trinity is streaming the service live on the Web and the services are available for purchase on DVD.
He concluded with another analogy, saying, “In order to crucify him you’ve got to lift him up … he had more visibility on the cross than he did during his entire ministry.”
FOX News’ Jeff Goldblatt contributed to this report.
I agree 100 % with Moss. The media (that includes FOX) took 10 to 60 second clips of a man’s 200,000 PLUS MINUTES of sermons and painted his whole legacy as those of only the 10 seconds… It was quite despicable. I don’t defend what Wright said - they were appalling and quite ignorant. But at the same time, let’s not lie to ourselves. This is NOT what the man said his entire life. Instead, his entire life was focused on helping those in need, whether they were the homeless or the drug addicted (you know, the stuff Jesus told us to do).
commented byAlex When will fox show the whole sermon and not this small portion Let America here the whole sermon. I do not believe it will make a difference about how some view the church.Fox talks about being “fair and balance” Show the whole sermon Fox
And why did Mitt Romney not make it??????????? Educated, well spoken, good business sense, nice looking, looked good in a suit, AND NOT RACIST!!!!!!!! And we’ve got this goober.
I have concerns about Barack Obama’s judgment. Rev. Jeremiah Wright taught Black Liberation Theology. An Internet Search for Black Liberation Theology displays articles that explain the strong anti-white sentiments of its proponents. Rev. Wright gave a lifetime achievement award to the anti-white, anti-Semitic, and anti-Catholic Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan. Barack Obama is a very intelligent man. He knows the world view and doctrines of Black Liberation Theology. He listened to sermons for 20 years and gave significant amounts of money to support Rev. Wright’s teaching. He exposed his daughters to anti-American and anti-white preaching.
Some people argue that Rev. Wright was instrumental in establishing numerous ministries for people with a variety of needs. Rev. Wright and his congregation should be commended for those ministries. However, nearly all churches have ministries for people with a variety of needs. Rev. Wright’s good works do not excuse his unpatriotic rhetoric and vulgar actions (Bill was ridin’ dirty…) while he was preaching.
Barack Obama could have chosen a spiritual advisor and mentor who agrees with the teaching of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Rev. King warned against “drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”
I do not believe Barack Obama’s actions have demonstrated he has the judgment to be our President. I think he should work to change the anti-American and anti-white preaching in his own church before he has the audacity to hope for our votes.
I love how the Fox news haters try to blame them for reporting how much of a racist Obama reallt is.
Was the Reverend really just paraphrashing ambassador Peck? If he was than the media was unfair to him. I doubt that all of the hateful things that Reverend Wright said were just quotes from someone else. If they were then I’ll get my knife and fork and I’ll eat my words.
To assume that over 6000 members identically shared Wright’s viewpoint without exception because they are black is racist beyond belief. Obama is the only one who can define where he is aligned in that spectrum, but his viewpoint is going to also be a culmination of his experiences and observations as a black man. He, along with all black men, are going to share some part of the experience that formulated Wright’s opinions, and therefore, share some of his views. We don’t have the right to expect him to reject or accept Wright on an “all or none” basis, and I wouldn’t respect him if he did.
Does this nation’s reaction to Wright mean that we will never be able to elect a black President? Every black man and woman will have a Rev. Wright in their life somewhere and each will accept or reject him/her in large or small measure, but never completely. Do we, as Americans, reject Obama completely based upon any small measure of his acceptance of Wrights viewpoint? Can we afford to shut out the black culture in this manner until they become white enough to not allow their black based experiences to shape their views? Even if we feel that we can afford to do so, can we do so? Won’t the attempt to do so only serve to breed the viewpoints that we would demand that blacks reject? How much of this attempt is presently responsible for the view that Rev. Wright has of America and how much of that is shared by Obama?
Whether or not we accept Obama as our President, we will be completely remiss if we don’t continue to engage him and Rev. Wright in an attempt to not waste this opportunity. Obama offers America it’s best hope of having the conversations that have been too long avoided in our country. His speech showed the willingness to open that dialog and his history makes him an excellent candidate to represent his culture, however major or slight the difference to ours.
Fox News is ‘lynching’ this church and it’s shameful.
Happy Easter!
I dont quite get why any news org should “leave “IT” alone”?? When concerning the man that might be our next President, I think its completely valid to question these associations, the ideology of these associations and what the candidate thinks in regards to these associations.
This particular story appears to be an innocent attempt at a reporter trying to experience first-hand what thousands of people go to hear weekly and what millions of people are talking about: a church and pastor saying potentially inflammatory things about this country and a person who is a close friend of a candidate running for the position of the “leader of the free world”. Why is that biased or uncalled for? I want my media to do AT LEAST that.
And, regardless of party or religious affiliation, this should raise some eyebrows:
1-Being frisked for any reason other than being a security risk.
2-Removal of any device that may or may not be used for recording purposes.
3-Controlling an interview in an intimidating manner.
4-Carrying the writings of one specific candidate in the church bookstore.
5-Having a pastor espouse the virtues of one specific politician while disparaging another.
This does NOT sound like a Church I would freqent…. and how this establishment get tax exemptions should be called into question.
Yes it’s a free country and ALL Churches enjoy tax-exempt statuses but that’s based on a strict set of laws. If Trinity is kicking people out based on the reason for being there, what they may hear, what political party the happen to vote for, what media organization they work for or even worse…. what color their skin is…… then they should be shut down right away.
I would call all of you retarded, but that wouldn’t be politically correct. Instead, I’ll call you typical stupid Americans.