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.
Comparing Jeremiah Wright to Jesus because of this so called lynching is blasphemy. This though is not surprising, because the former pastor broke the 2nd Commandment from the pulpit. Just more of the same
Don Costello
A missed opportunity. The new Pastor missed the chance to admit the wrong doing by the previous pastor by simply saying this church will no longer invite or preach hate. Instead he used what happen to ask for money to defend the ludicrous actions of the previous pastor.
I can only hope that Obama is as disgusted by this as I am. If he stays silent for this, its another nail in his campaign. I wonder what he will say.
“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.
It looks like Moss is no different than Wright. Wonder what Obama’s comments will be? But to compare Wright with Jesus,now that’s a stretch!!!!
These folks just don’t seem to wise up! None of this nonsense has anything to do with Jesus and the Christian faith. Truth speaks in the marketplace and those who lie are made evident by their own stupidity - which is what has just transpired. To liken this buffoon to anyone in history who has made worthwhile contributions is foolishness…
Jesus got very angry with the money changers at the temple. This anger was not at one race oppressing another, one class oppressing another, one set of believers oppressing another. It was about man’s disregard for the sanctity of His Father’s house. It was about our trivializing our Creator. It was about our setting ourselves above our Creator. We want to live a Christ-like life. But, comparing one to Jesus approaches trivializing our Creator. I do not see anything in Reverend Wright that makes me think of my Creator
Wright uses the Lord’s name in vain to dam America, calls America vile names, says its the USA who is infected blacks with AIDS and Dam’s America. And it is the fault of the press????
If Wrights church, and I will not use Rev, wants to see racisium all theey need to do is look in the mirrior.
So now if you play Reverend Wright’s own videos, the very same videos his church sells on its web site, then you are guilty of “lynching”.
And this from the new pastor of the church attended by Mr. Obama for over 20 years during which time he never heard anything that would motivate him to try to find another flock to join.
So what happens if this guy become president?
Will it be a hate crime to post up videos of Obama making racist comments like referring to his grandmother as “a typical white person”?
Has the Democratic party ever produced a more radical liberal, racist, anti-American presidential candidate than Barack Obama?
I feel that comparing the Rev. Wright to Jesus is a sin in itself. Their struggles have no comparison in that Jesus was freeing us from our sins and Rev. Wright was spewing racial hatred. To compare their suffering and lynching is absurd. Jesus loved all people and Rev. Wright hates many.
I feel that this Church’s view is doing major harm to the true “Christians” in the world. Christians do not hate others but should show love towards all. Mr. Wright is not how a true christian should act. We are to be lights in this world of darkness. Mr. Wright is not a light in this world. He is a false prohet.
WHAT A DISGRACE!!!! This man should never be compared to Christ. What he has been through is not even remotely comparative to what Jesus went through. First and foremost because Jesus was and innocent man. Jeremiah Wright brought this on himself with his hateful, vindictive and destructive words.
WHAT A DISGRACE TO COMPARE HIM TO JESUS!!