Our Big Cheese editor Steve Waldman says that while it's true that few of us would be able to remain in our house of worship if we were required to agree with everything our pastors said, Barack Obama is in a different situation with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright:
It is, however, totally fair to ask Obama what parts of Wright’s ideology he agrees with, and which he disagrees with. ...[I]t’s not sufficient for Obama to say Wright is a crazy uncle. He has to say what parts of Wright’s message he shares. More important, Obama needs to explain why he’s stayed at the church. It’s a totally legitimate question. If his answer is that, despite Wright’s views on politics and race, the church brought Obama spiritual meaning, then that needs to count for a lot.
This is correct. News broke the other day that Foundry United Methodist church in Washington is now going to perform gay and lesbian "commitment" ceremonies. Bill and Hillary Clinton attended this church when he was president. I don't think Hillary should be expected to defend or condemn this decision. When I was a parishioner at a particular Catholic church in Fort Lauderdale, there was this one elderly pastor who preached constantly about "homophobia," and directly contradicted Catholic teaching on the matter. Constantly. Yet I kept going there because it was my geographic parish, because the Eucharist was there, despite the priest's beliefs, and besides, I never did find any much better parish. But I went there in spite of the pastor's teaching, not because of it -- and I always knew that the very second I found a more faithful parish, I was out of there. (Besides, this priest wasn't all bad; he was right on target when he'd preach about the Church's teachings on economic justice, and that was something that I needed to hear).
Now, if I had been going to that parish and listening to that same pastor for 20 years, as Barack Obama has done with Jeremiah Wright, it would be perfectly understandable for people to wonder how much of what Father N. said that I agreed with. And if I didn't agree with the pastor, why did I continue to stay in that church, and raise my kids in that church. Maybe I'd have a good answer, or at least a plausible answer. But the asking is normal, and to be expected under those circumstances.
Notice with Obama and Jeremiah Wright, though, it's not even a case of Obama being an ordinary member of that parish. He has explicitly extolled Wright as his spiritual father. It's normal to wonder what it is about a man who preaches things that shock the sensibilities of many people that attracts a man like Barack Obama to him.
Remember when Mel Gibson was asked by Diane Sawyer, in the whole "Passion of the Christ" episode, about his nutball anti-Semitic father? When Sawyer, in that interview, started to ask him to defend his father, Gibson cut her off, saying something like, "Don't go there, Diane." I understood his reaction, and sympathized with him. Maybe Gibson supported his father's beliefs (I tend to believe that he does, or did, much to his shame), or maybe not. But there's something wrong, I think, with putting a child, no matter how old, in the position of having to denounce their mother and father publicly. If an adult child wants to do so -- e.g., Frank Schaeffer -- then that person's actions and words should be considered on their own merits. But it's not right to expect an adult child to do that.
Are people like me not expecting Obama to openly pass judgment on the man who serves as his spiritual father and even his surrogate father? Is that right? Well, Jeremiah Wright didn't raise Barack Obama. Obama came to him as an adult, and benefited (by his own testimony) from Wright's counsel and example. Their relationship was based largely on ideas, and was freely chosen, not "natural," if you follow me. Therefore, the fact that Obama chose Wright, and has chosen to stand by Wright, surely tells us something about Barack Obama's character.
But what? Only Obama can answer that. And sooner or later, he's going to have to. You may not think he should have to, but as a matter of political reality, he will.
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"there was this one elderly pastor who preached constantly about "homophobia," and directly contradicted Catholic teaching on the matter. Constantly"
This must be some crazy city or East Coast thing. I've never lived in a town of more than a thousand people and I've never lived on the coast. I've never heard a priest do what you're talking about. I know it happens as I've heard of Catholics on the East Coast who mention it, but never experienced it for myself.
I don't think it was an East Coast thing, Thomas, but rather the particular bee in this old priest's bonnet. I've never heard any other priest preach like this. If he had been that obsessed about abortion, it would have been inappropriate, understand, but he was not only fixated on the topic, but taught contrary to Catholic dogma. I wonder if that old guy is still alive. I just checked the parish's website, and none of the priests who were in residence there when I was a parishioner (over 10 years ago) are still there. They were so old I wouldn't be surprised if they were dead or in a nursing home.
I'll never forget being at mass one day -- a Saturday evening, if memory serves -- and Father had once again preached about the great sin of our time being homophobia. He stood at one point in front of the altar after his homily and made some remark about how enlightened the church was becoming now, and how he was way ahead of his time. It really was kind of shocking, how prideful and self-satisfied he was. But then he took one small step, and literally pitched forward off the altar and took a hard fall. Everybody gasped. He got to his feet quickly, but for the last year I was in the parish he hobbled along with a pronounced limp.
So what you all are saying is that you wish Obama to make a greater distance from his minister than he already has (withdrew Rev Wright from giving the invocation when Obama announced his candicacy for President)? What if the situation was his prep school's roomate, someone whom he met at 18 instead of 26 and even though they agreed on many things, the roomate was a conservative radio talk show host in Chicago (smaller platform) and he stated hateful things once in a while during his show, should the same separation occur? Should Obama not listen to the show, not find a position on the campaign that would keep him from trying to help in his own way or have any contact at all? I know I have friendships that were made over 20 years ago where I agree with their basic principals, but not their rhetoric and yet we still participate and celebrate the big events in each other's life. Can you really mean that Obama should not have the same relationships in his life and would he be the man he is now without learning to parse other's beliefs and work with the good?
"It really was kind of shocking, how prideful and self-satisfied he was. But then he took one small step, and literally pitched forward off the altar and took a hard fall."
Pride cometh before a fall. Heh.
General:
I don't know about Obama buying into the Rev. Wright's world view but it seems to have caught on with Mrs. Obama. She and Wright could be mistaken for an echo chamber conversation. I wonder what he and she talk about over breakfast, their conflicting world and US views.
Sincerely, J R Dittbrenner
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