Putting Rev. Wright's Preaching in Perspective (by Diana Butler Bass)
The current media flap over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's former pastor, strikes me as nothing short of strange. Anyone who attends church on a regular basis knows how frequently congregants disagree with their ministers. To sit in a pew is not necessarily assent to a message preached on a particular day. Being a church member is not some sort of mindless cult, where individuals believe every word preached. Rather, being a church member means being part of a community of faith—a gathered people, always diverse and sometimes at odds, who constitute Christ's body in the world.
But the attack on Rev. Wright reveals something beyond ignorance of basic dynamics of Christian community. It demonstrates the level of misunderstanding that still divides white and black Christians in the United States. Many white people find the traditions of African-American preaching offensive, especially when it comes to politics.
I know because I am one of those white people. My first sustained encounter with African-American preaching came in graduate school about twenty years ago. I had been assigned as a teaching assistant to a course in Black Church Studies. The placement surprised me, since I had no background in the subject. But the professor assured me that "anyone with experience teaching American religion" would be able to handle the load.
The subject matter was not, as the professor indicated, difficult. The emotional content, however, was. To prepare, I had to read literally thousands of pages of black preaching and theology covering the entire scope of American history. While the particulars of preaching changed through time, one thing did not. Throughout the entire corpus, black Christian leaders leveled a devastating critique against their white brothers and sisters—accusing white Christians of maintaining "ease in Zion" while allowing black people to suffer injustice and oppression.
Typical of the form used by black preachers is Frederick Douglass' address, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" first delivered on July 5, 1852. The address, a political sermon, forcefully attacks white culture. "Fellow-citizens," Douglass proclaims, "above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wails of millions! Whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, today, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them." He goes on to calls American conduct "hideous and revolting" and accuses white Christians of trampling upon and disregarding both the constitution and the Bible. He concluded his sermon with the words, "For revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival."
This was very hard to take. I confess: nearly everything I read that semester pained and angered me. But four months of listening to voices that I wanted to reject made me different. I began to hear the power of the critique. I came to appreciate the prophetic nature of black preaching. I recognized that these voices emerged from a very distinct historical experience. And I admired the narrative interplay between the Bible and social justice. Over time, they taught me to hear the Gospel from an angular perspective—the angle of slaves, freed blacks, of those who feared lynching, of those who longed for Africa, those who could not attend good schools. From them, I learned that liberation through Jesus was a powerful thing. And that white Americans really did need to repent when it came to race.
Learning to listen was not easy. It took patience, historical imagination, and lots of complaining to my friends—even my African-American ones. Eventually, I figured out that even if your ancestors had been the oppressors, you can enter into the world of those who had been oppressed with generosity and a heart open to transformation.
As MSNBC, CNN, and FOX endlessly play the tape of Rev. Wright's "radical" sermons today, I do not hear the words of a "dangerous" preacher (at least any more dangerous than any preacher who takes the Gospel seriously!) No, I hear the long tradition that Jeremiah Wright has inherited from his ancestors. I hear prophetic critique. I hear Frederick Douglass. And, mostly, I hear the Gospel slant—I hear it from an angle that is not natural to me. It is good to hear that slant.
That is not, of course, comfortable for white people. Nor is it easily understood in sound bites. It does not easily fit in a contemporary political campaign. But it is a deep spiritual river in American faith and culture, a river that—as I had to learn—flows from the throne of God.
Diana Butler Bass holds a doctorate in American religion from Duke University. She is the author of six books including Christianity for the Rest of Us (HarperOne, 2006).
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Comments
Yes the Douglass argument would have been hard to hear, but transparent, and easily defensible. However the Wright arguments that the US Administration planted aids, and engineered 911 is not only not defensible with any semblance of fact, it is also fantastic, and fanatically looney. Sorry, your point is not made.
Posted by: E Howard Holmes | March 14, 2008 4:27 PM
Thank you for an excellent piece bringing putting this into perspective.
To those who are offended by Wright, I hope you get equally offended by preachers who trash Islam or any other religion for that matter. I hope that you get offended- but I seriously doubt that you do.
Posted by: JamesMartin | March 14, 2008 5:12 PM
Sound bite or not, it is unbelievable that you would defend a pastor of the Gospel who stands in his pulpit and tells his congregation instead of singing "God Bless America" they should be saying "God D*** America." Whatever your political leanings, that type of rhetoric is never helpful.
Are you as supportive of David Duke? I didn't think so.
Prejudice is prejudice, regardless of the skin color of the believer. Wright is one heck of a prejudiced man.
Posted by: chris | March 14, 2008 5:13 PM
It is noteworthy that in DBB's defense of Wright she could not bring herself to cite any of his bizarre, hateful quotes or make note of the outspoken anti-Semite (Farrakhan) he heaped praise on. Since when did proclaiming "God D*$n America", arguing that the US "started the AIDS virus", and blaming the US for 9/11 right after the attacks constitute prophecy? Also, since when did Sojo transform itself into Obama's campaign headquarters?
Posted by: jesse | March 14, 2008 5:27 PM
E Howard, you're right about 9/11. After all, everything changed on 9/11. Everything! Why, structural steel that Underwriters Laboratory had certified to withstand several hours at 2000 degrees Fahrenheit melted instantaneously in the fireball of burning jet fuel at 1300 degrees!
Yes, indeed, everything! Even the physical properties of matter!
Posted by: Ted Voth Jr | March 14, 2008 5:28 PM
The people of Israel never did like their prophets. The prophets of Israel tended to live foreshortened lives. They tended to die early at the hands of their neighbors, because of the unpleasant things they said. Their vindication was at the hands of the LORD.
I think even if Wright is prejudiced-- after five hundred years of persisting persecution of your people, might you, white America, not feel a bit upset at those who even now continue to persecute your people? Is it not rather a marvel of Christian humility that our Black Americans even talk to us?--
Even if Wright is prejudiced, the wiser part is still to listen to what he says and ask yourself 'Is this true? Is what he says true?' Better still, if you claim to be a follower of Jesus, ask 'Jesus, is what Wright says true? Is he perhaps speaking prophetically at Your Hand?'
Posted by: Ted Voth Jr | March 14, 2008 5:38 PM
Yes, me again! Seems to me a lot of folks have some rather sizable logs stuck in their eyes! After how many years of Right Religious preachers pushing their political parodies of angry, narrow, fear-mongering 'Christianity' down our throats, a preacher rises to preach God's concern for 'the weightier matters of the Law, as Justice and Mercy.'
And suddenly we remember the separation of Church and state! The LORD Jesus has a word for this: hypocrisy.
Posted by: Ted Voth Jr | March 14, 2008 5:43 PM
Wright is over the top, but no more so than hatemongers like Fred Phelps and John Hagee.
Posted by: Bob | March 14, 2008 6:40 PM
So you claim he's over the top like Phelps and Hagee; I agree. All three are wrong. All three are hatemongers. I seriously doubt sojo.com, Butler-Bass or Ted would come to their defense as simply misunderstood.
What's good for the goose and all...
Posted by: chris | March 14, 2008 6:54 PM
Thank you for this excellent piece. I also found myself wondering what was so bad about Wright's comments. I think his criticism of Hillary Clinton was unwarranted, but the rest of it seemed reasonable to me in light of this nation's history of genocide, slavery, and oppression. God's great concern for social justice leaps out at me when I read the Scriptures, but only because patient pastors, campus ministers, and authors pointed it out to me when I was a student. It's amazing how blind affluence & comfortability makes us.
I pray that God uses this controversy to open more Americans' eyes to the gravity of injustice, and that he softens more hearts to seek true reconciliation. Bless you for speaking up.
Posted by: Melissa Mitchell | March 14, 2008 7:07 PM
There are times to listen. There are times to speak.
The White church in America--to this day--has not stopped to listen. I sometimes wonder how so many Evangelicals could not hear the substance of Dr. MLK's message. I guess it is the same way we can't hear Rev. Wright.
It is impossible to defend or debate Rev. Wright's sermons (even if they had some bearing on Obama's candidacy which I completely fail to see) unless someone is willing to first listen. Which is what DBB is arguing.
I will tell you which presidential candidates are tested by Rev. Wright. It is Hillary Clinton and John McCain. If either of them could truly hear Dr. Wright they would tell Obama's critiques to be quiet.
If either did so, they would would open the ears of about 20% of the population that currently have their ears closed (especially to McCain).
I understand why folks think Wright's words sound like Fred Phelps. But the assesment is wrong. Why? Because you stand close enough to the shoes of Fred Phelps that you understand it is hate. If you stood close enough to the shoes of Wright you would understand it is not hate.
There are no better friends to the ideals of America than the prophetic voice of the Black church. I am not being over dramatic (in my mind) to state the failure of the white church to hear this voice has undermined God's purposes for the nation, for the American church, for the cause of global missions.
It is hard to hear the words, "God Damn America." And we will stand on our righteous, indignant, feet to condemn the words--while on the road to God's condemnation of America.
That is not a defense or rebuke. That is a call to submit and listen to our brothers and sisters. God is fully able to judge the heart and the words of Dr. Wright.
Posted by: letjusticerolldown | March 14, 2008 7:22 PM
So, Obama saw fit to repudiate Wright's comments on 9/11 and just officially cut him off from his campaign, yet DBB and others here still seek to defend him. What do you guys get that Obama doesn't?
Posted by: jesse | March 14, 2008 7:46 PM
I find all of this twaddle over Dr. Wrights words to be laughable considering that most people are still enmeshed in the illusion that there is any such a thing as race. Humanity is ONE kind upon the face of the earth. When that fact is finally realized all arguements will cease.
Seamus MacNemi
Posted by: Seamus MacNemi | March 14, 2008 8:15 PM
Obama certainly recognized that Wright's commentary is offensive. I find DBBs defense on the basis of race to be bizarre. If your theology brings you to the point of blaming American sin for terrorist attacks, then you are in Pat Robertson territory.
Congregants are permitted to disagree with their pastors, but are also commanded to submit and obey their church leadership. If my pastor said something along the lines of "God d--- America for allowing abortion", I'd switch churches. I expect maturity and self-discipline from my pastors.
If Obama had wondered aloud "what's so bad about Wright's comments?", he would immediately, and justly, lose the election. It is the sentiments themselves that are wrong and offensive, not the manner in which they were expressed.
If they did not coalesce with Bass' worldview, I am certain she would be far less sympathetic. Wright made the comment that "Bill did us just like he did Monica Lewinsky. He was riding dirty." Sub a homosexual reference for the Monica Lewinsky crack, and I doubt this post gets written.
Posted by: kevin s. | March 14, 2008 8:20 PM
I find all of the twaddle over Dr. Wrights words to be laughable considering that most people are still enmeshed in the illusion that there is any such a thing as race. Humanity is ONE kind upon the face of the earth. When this fact is finally realized than all arguements will cease.
Posted by: Seamus MacNemi | March 14, 2008 8:21 PM
Seamus is right. Race is an illusion but the culture that sprung up from it is not. I know I am a member of American black culture. I love jazz, underground hip hop, soul food, and American history and a whole bunch of other aspects of what it means to be an American.
We can't ignore race and assume that racism doesn't exist but we can see race as it is. It is a beautiful reflection of the creativity of God. For that it should be a praise.
Re DBB's article I can sum it up by this quote:
"I do not hear the words of a "dangerous" preacher (at least any more dangerous than any preacher who takes the Gospel seriously!) No, I hear the long tradition that Jeremiah Wright has inherited from his ancestors. I hear prophetic critique. I hear Frederick Douglass."
People should really read Frederick Douglass. he said the same thing Wright said and no one damned him for it.
p
Posted by: Payshun | March 14, 2008 8:28 PM
None of this would be happening if Reverend Wright had limited himself to calling the Catholic church the "Great Whore" and a "cult", and accusing Catholics of conspiring with the Nazis to perpetrate the Holocaust, and blaming the Jews for anti-Semitism, and blaming Hurricane Katrina on gay people, and calling for the US and Israel to launch a military strike on Iran in order to precipitate Armageddon and the slaughter of all Jews and Muslims in the world.
No, if Reverend Wright had said only the things that Reverend John Hagee -- who has publicly endorsed John McCain -- has said, then Obama would not have to "reject and denounce" anything, as he has done, categorically and forthrightly.
No, like John McCain, Obama would only have to say that he is "proud" to have the support of such a great "spiritual leader" and vaguely mutter that he doesn't necessarily agree with "all" of that individual's hateful, repugnant bigotry and his calls for mass murder.
Like, I'm SO sure.
Face it, folks. The people who own and run the giant ultra-rich corporations who own the vast majority of America's mass media, from which the vast majority of Americans get the vast majority of their information, are dead set on preserving the Bush policies of massive, Treasury-looting tax cuts for the ultra-rich, the squandering America's wealth (and blood) on reckless wars of aggression to control the world's oil supplies, and of course further deregulation of their industry so they can own and control, not just most, but ALL of America's mass media.
That's why the corporate-owned mass media is going to deify John McCain, and crucify whichever Democrat gets the nomination. The corporate media's campaign of character assassination against Obama or Clinton will make the goring of Al Gore and the Swiftboating of John Kerry look mild in comparison.
Posted by: SecularAnimist | March 14, 2008 8:36 PM
So should Pastor Wright's church lose its tax exempt status? Obviously favoring one candidate while castigating another and all...
Posted by: aaron | March 14, 2008 8:44 PM
Like, I'm SO sure.
So McCain has attended Hagee's church for oh a few decades and considers him his spiritual mentor, or you blowing smoke up my pant leg?
Posted by: aaron | March 14, 2008 8:47 PM
So McCain has attended Hagee's church for oh a few decades and considers him his spiritual mentor...
It doesn't matter that he hasn't and doesn't. McCain clearly sought Hagee's endorsement. The two met in January 2007, and McCain attended Hagee's support Israel conference in July 2007.
It won't matter a bit how much distance Obama tries to put between himself and some of the less, shall we say, publicly palatable things that Dr. Wright has said and done in the past. Those who oppose Obama's candidacy will strain at this gnat for all it's worth, while at the same time be more than willing to swallow the McCain-Hagee camel.
Posted by: Don | March 14, 2008 9:08 PM
Those who oppose Obama's candidacy will strain at this gnat for all it's worth, while at the same time be more than willing to swallow the McCain-Hagee camel. Posted by: Don
Exactly.
Posted by: JamesMartin | March 14, 2008 10:30 PM
Breaking news: read the following that just appeared a half hour ago on NY Times online. Obama issues a six paragraph denunciation of the over-the-top speech of Rev. Wright.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/15/us/politics/15wright.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Posted by: I and I | March 14, 2008 10:40 PM
"So, Obama saw fit to repudiate Wright's comments on 9/11 and just officially cut him off from his campaign, yet DBB and others here still seek to defend him. What do you guys get that Obama doesn't?" Jesse
Listen, Jesse. Maybe you will find the answer.
For starters, without agreeing with DBB--what do you understand her argument to be?
Posted by: letjusticerolldown | March 14, 2008 11:11 PM
It is true that some people are going to be offended, no matter how expressed, with anything short of America and God are One and Good and Always have been. This emotional bond is akin to that of the mother who will always say, "My boy is a good boy," whether it looks that way to others outside her family or not.
Americanism has been called the fourth western religion and it is imprinted into a lot of folks since birth, mostly English speaking and light-skinned.
And we do ask immigrants who become citizens to convert to our beautiful myth by oath as a form of adult baptism, even over loyalty to God.
There are those on this continent however, who have every right to be here as much, who could easily say with Langston Hughes, "America never was America to me."
Those people have red and dark skins - both had the birthright of their own land taken from them, one people through displacement and genocide, the other by kidnapping and slavery.
"America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free.
"(America never was America to me.)
"Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above.
"(It never was America to me.)
"O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe.
"(There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this 'homeland of the free.')
"Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
"I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
"I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one's own greed!
"I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-- Hungry yet today despite the dream. Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers! I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years.
"Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That's made America the land it has become. O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home-- For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa's strand I came To build a "homeland of the free."
"The free?
"Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike? The millions who have nothing for our pay? For all the dreams we've dreamed And all the songs we've sung And all the hopes we've held And all the flags we've hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay-- Except the dream that's almost dead today.
"O, let America be America again-- The land that never has been yet-- And yet must be--the land where every man is free. The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-- Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again.
"Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-- The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, America!
"O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath-- America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain-- All, all the stretch of these great green states-- And make America again!"
Posted by: Sojourner Truth | March 14, 2008 11:22 PM
I'm glad the monologue of the Religious Right is over, but some of these postings seem to justify anything and everything that runs counter to anything that may appear "conservative".
Defending Rev. Wright's statements that we live in the USKKKA and that we deserved 9/11 is pretty outrageous.
Posted by: Josh | March 14, 2008 11:24 PM
"Those who oppose Obama's candidacy will strain at this gnat for all it's worth, while at the same time be more than willing to swallow the McCain-Hagee camel."
I think the issue will pretty much die. McCain's plan will be to do everything possible to keep race out of the discussion. It only benefits Obama (see the Geraldine Ferraro kerfuffle).
Do you really think that the man you chose to perform your wedding is a gnat compared to the man you sought out for an endorsement? Hagee doesn't work for McCain's campaign, and never has. If the tables were turned, your gnat-camel comparison would as well.
Posted by: kevin s. | March 14, 2008 11:32 PM
"Hey! Who was it who said that this issue wasn't part of the Republican Party's talking points?"
That was last week. Short memories you know. The media megaphones kind of catapulted the propaganda.
Posted by: N.M. Rod | March 15, 2008 12:03 AM
I am disappointed that the prophetic, red-letter Sojourners will not openly condemn the teachings of Pastor Wright, and instead has chosen to publish an evasive rationalization of teachings that are obviously hate-filled. Barak Obama has attended this church for years and wants us to believe he was unaware of the extreme, antisemitic, "hate America" teachings that Pastor Wright spews. I find that very hard to believe. How can Obama be a uniter when he fills his mind each week with such bitterness and hate? I want to understand why Obama finds such comfort in such brittle, bitter theology?
Posted by: tired of liberal double standards | March 15, 2008 12:08 AM
Josh--What do you think Rev. Wright meant in referencing "the USKKKA?"
And what comment in defense of that reference are you criticizing?
"Earth to Kevin. Earth to Kevin." Who Mr. Obama asked to perform his marriage (I don't find asking one's pastor to be bizarrre behavior) is meaningless to his public campaign. Are you concerned with knowing who married McCain six weeks after his divorce? I do not find it bizarre he asked his pastor to perform his marriage.
Do you remember prior to either the '80 or '84 election, Reagan visited the Bronx. He got out of his limo and got in a heated exchange with a Black woman. I admired his willingness to make his case. But he was clueless in his capacity to hear her.
What persons like Hannity and Medved are doing ad nauseum with Jeremiah Wright is pounding home to most African Americans (and others) that conservatives have no capacity to hear.
Re-read DBB. It is an appeal to listen. To listen. To listen. To listen. To listen. To hear outside of one's framework for listening/hearing.
Posted by: letjusticerolldown | March 15, 2008 12:36 AM
Ms. Bass...While I'm often interested in your opinion, I take great exception to your comments concerning Jeremiah Wright. In many of the sermons mentioned recently by news media, he is not preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is preaching anti-America slander, gossip, and ignorance. To defend his statements by comparing his style to that of Douglas is reprehensible. I think you would be hard-pressed to find a historian/scholar who would put Douglas on the same level as Wright.
Perhaps to put it in perspective, imagine if Ann Coulter were an ordained minister, and spoke her venomous words against Democrats from pulpits across the nation. No one would stand for that, because those words would violate the trust in her position/title. Wright has a right to his opinion, but don't try to cover his opinion under the umbrella of the gospel of Jesus Christ. C'mon!
Posted by: Christopher | March 15, 2008 12:53 AM
'tired of liberal double standards'--Obama repudiated the message which has been played over and over. So your questions about him are apparently answered. Yes????
Exactly what about Obama do you find bitter and hateful?????
Posted by: Letjusticerolldown | March 15, 2008 12:53 AM
One thing to keep in mind: Wright is retired from the church. Therefore, he's no longer an official authority.
Posted by: Rick Nowlin | March 15, 2008 1:07 AM
Christopher--Dr Wright may be saying a whole lot of the church is covering their opinions under the umbrella of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is a reason why Dr. Wright at times sounds more like Farrakhan than he sounds like Joel Olsteen. And I don't think it is because he doesn't like Jesus.
I haven't even heard most of these comments of Dr. Wright. Further, the last time I saw him on television I thought many of his comments were silly. But I also know his old church and the substance of his teachings. I know the white church is virtually 'tone deaf' in its hearing or understanding of the viewpoint.
And all the controversy about Dr Wright is about trying to throw dirt in Obama's face--regardless if Obama's actions/words have in one instance reflected any of the "hateful" views suggested.
I am more than willing to critically review Dr Wright if you are willing to do the work to listen to Dr Wright (e.g. as DBB did in her assignment).
Posted by: letjusticerolldown | March 15, 2008 1:09 AM
I have been in many churches , but I never heard a Pastor God damn anyone .
I don't see any of us that would return to one that did , maybe I am wrong . I hope not .
But the comments about riding Monica like Bill was riding Black America I just found pathetic .
I just hope kids were not in there , this is not language I would think we would defend for any reason ?
I am not sure why when someone does something we consider wrong , if they somehow seem to be on your political side we need to bring up different comments that we find distasteful.
I just heard many of us morally and spirtually believe we should repent as a church . Maybe we should just repent as political parties .
At least you did not Take the Lord's name in Vain with those of us you disagreed with On repentance .
I am glad Obama came out the way he did , he has more class and integrity then Dianna Bass , Hillary is most likely tap dancing .
Posted by: Mick | March 15, 2008 1:27 AM
I'm a conservative white pastor in the conservative Assemblies Of God. I would like to make a few points:
1. I would never, ever be led by the Holy Spirit to say anything so hateful as what Rev. Wright has said from the pulpit, I don't care what the history of my people was. My impression of liberal Christians of all races is that they have no problem following Jesus command to love their enemies but more than a little problem following His command to show love one to another. This divisive rhetoric has no place in the body of Christ, and should rightly be condemned by all well-meaning saints. There are things about America I deplore, especially abortion on demand, but to call down God's damnation on this country rather than to intercede for it as Moses did the nation of Israel is not prophetic, rather it is in the spirit of antichrist. We will never get beyond the racial divide until the (truly) United Church Of Christ, leads the way. And BTW, I would say the same thing of John Hagee, Jerry Falwell, etc.
2. Either Barack Obama is not being entirely truthful in his statement that he did not know of the inflammatory preaching of Wright over a 20 year relationship or else he was incredibly naive to the point of being clueless. If my spiritual convictions allowed me to be a betting man (which they do not), I would bet that he DID know about it, which begs the question, why would he stay at a church for 20 years that espouses the hatemongering which he now detests, being married and having his children baptized by the head hatemongerer?
Posted by: Rev. Stan Zack | March 15, 2008 1:32 AM
"Congregants are permitted to disagree with their pastors, but are also commanded to submit and obey their church leadership." I'm not going to debate church doctrine but I have never heard of a commandment to submit and obey your church leadership. I'm curious, where is that reference in the Bible? I certainly don't believe my Pastor or anyone's paster is to be obeyed and doubt that Barack Obama or the United Church of Christ does. I attended a revivial that Rev. Wright conducted a number of years of ago and his sermons were all very inspiring and didn't resemble the snippets played on television. I've also read Barack Obama's first book where he describes the beginnings of his relationship with Rev. Wright as well as the audacity of hope sermon. I'm not going to defend him and suggest if you want to know what Barack Obama believes you can read his books. He is pretty honest and open about his views and values. In the past, I have assumed that people attended church for the same reasons I did and found over time that they may not. I remember being shocked that one of the most seemingly dedicated member of the church only attended for the sense of community. She held very racist views that I debated with her but her views were deeply rooted in her personal experience. I certainly didn't think it was my Christian duty to separate from her but I did make attempt to introduce to more diverse envirnoments and I think it opened her eyes to the possibility that individuals from other races weren't as bad as her experience has taught her. In the end it was her belief system, her's alone. I'd also suggest people read the entire MLK "I have a dream" speech and the speeches of other Pastors and leaders during the 60's. I think you might be a bit surprised that is really isn't just about dreams for his children. The writer is explaining her experience and I admire that she was find the heart to listen and read and wait to understand and empathize with a people that had had a different historical experience. I don't think the she has to own the history or apologize for it. But I want to thank her for listening.
Posted by: Stephanie Berry | March 15, 2008 1:57 AM
“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people,” he said in a 2003 sermon. “God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.”
In addition to damning America, he told his congregation on the Sunday after Sept. 11, 2001 that the United States had brought on al Qaeda’s attacks because of its own terrorism.
“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,” Rev. Wright said in a sermon on Sept. 16, 2001.
“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost,” he told his congregation.
Posted by: Pastor Left | March 15, 2008 3:25 AM
"I'm a conservative white pastor"
Is that something to be proud of, or gives you a special dispensation? Are you claiming to be thereby a petty pope of protestantism, speaking ex cathedra? If it has any relevance at all, it seems to come dangerously close to the sort of invocation Thomas W. Dixon used to make before his speeches when he was the most popular speaker in the nation.
"I would never, ever be led by the Holy Spirit"
So you know ahead of time just what the Spirit of the Lord will say and how He will lead? Sounds like you're claiming omniscience, placing yourself in His place. In other words, He will be under you, not you under Him. What if He should want to use harsh prophetic language that speaks of God spewing you or your congregation out of His mouth? But you, er He, would never do that, now would He? Neither the Lord who threw the moneychangers out of the temple, the prophet who spoke of God's people as prostitutes, nor the returned Messiah judging the church itself are things you would hear, or trouble a morally sleepy congregation with. Or will you? Are you "comfortable in Zion," after all?
"I don't care what the history of my people was."
That is an accurate statement I'd say - you don't care.
Perhaps you have conflated parochial nationalism with Christianity, like so many heretical patriot pastors who have marched that road to Hell down through the centuries since Constantine.
"There are things about America I deplore, especially abortion on demand"
Yes, and that and homosexual "marriage," no doubt, but little else that could be YOUR sin, instead of someone else's? I get those fund-raising mailings every election season, complete with flags superimposed on crosses. No doubt we should regard as important what the senders of these mailings counsel regarding these issues, but we certainly shouldn't follow their own example of carrying out God's commands, just as advised in Mathhew 23:2.
"to call down God's damnation on this country rather than to intercede for it as Moses did the nation of Israel is not prophetic, rather it is in the spirit of antichrist."
If we don't repent - for many have claimed, America's conservatives have nothing to repent of - we are already damned, for that is the fallen natural state of mankind.
Intercessionary prayer requires just the same repentant heart for sins and forgiveness towards enemies to be effective as any other.
What if someone called for judgment of America? Would America be willing to be judged on its own merits? What would happen to us if we were willing to be judged by our works? Would America be exalted by God, or would we be damned not by His standards, but condemned by our own? And on what basis should judgment be withheld, if there is no acknowledgment of sin and no repentance?
Aren't we in danger? We sow the wind; how soon will we reap the whirlwind? If God judged Israel, will He do less for a people who so glibly appropriate His name to justify their own lusts as His will? Did the prophets not call down condemnation on their own nation for its wickedness?
"My impression of liberal Christians...is that they have...more than a little problem following His command to show love one to another."
What prima facie evidence of someone thinking he's seeing the log in someone else's eye when he's actually being blinded myopically by the big one in his own!
Yes, love your brother and sister in the Lord. Love your neighbor. And then Jesus gives his new commandment, "But I say to you, love your enemy. Do good to those who spitefully use you." That inclusivity doesn't jibe with your not-so-subtle dig that those who follow the sermon on the mount are lovers of America's enemies and therefore haters of America. Or perhaps you "dispense" with His core teachings as "not for us?" If not for us called by His name, then whom? If not now, then when?
"If my spiritual convictions allowed me to be a betting man (which they do not), I would bet..."
You cannot speak out of both sides of your mouth to try to make a point. Besides, Blaise Pascal was a betting man, and he urged people to bet on the side of the house when looking at the odds of eternity.
Are these the kinds of words you characterize as "antichrist"? They were aimed at religious conservatives:
"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation."
God bless you pastor. I hope when the Lord leads you to speak prophetically, it will be in the language of men, rather than angels, so that He will be heard by men.
So far, I just hear a clanging cymbal.
Posted by: Sojourner Truth | March 15, 2008 3:31 AM
Why would DBB and Sojo attempt to defend the indefensible? IMO, this crazy "preacher" and Obama's association with him for the past 17 years will eventually cost Obama the election and quite possibly, even the nomination. Obama's excuse that he never heard these types of hate words while attending this church is not close to being believable and he should be ashamed to have been associated with this man for so long. How can a preacher ever say GD from the pulpit?
I now wait for McCain to condemn Rod Parsley before that becomes the next major story. I'm beginning to think that becoming too close to supposed "men of the cloth" is much more dangerous than helpful. Maybe future political campaigns will finally recognize that it's best to keep religion and politics completely separate. Ooops, that would put an end to this blog then, wouldn't it?
Posted by: Cads | March 15, 2008 4:12 AM
"IMO, this crazy "preacher" and Obama's association with him for the past 17 years will eventually cost Obama the election and quite possibly, even the nomination.
Maybe future political campaigns will finally recognize that it's best to keep religion and politics completely separate."
This is more about "blackening" Obama as being out of the white power mainstream than anything else.
The white majority's not going to want anyone elected who hasn't bought into their own view of themselves, so the idea is to tar him with being too close to the black understanding of American history, which is not as flattering a view as whites are accustomed to.
Truth be told, any politician's too close association with either prophetic religion or truth is enormously dangerous to electability. There's a basic incompatibility between authentic religion that calls people to repentance for their sins and a politics that's appealing to self-interest, whether of individual or nation.
Success in politics is most associated with whispering vapid flattering nothings and bogus financial promises into voters' ears, not unpleasant truths. The American voter is a highly narcissistic creature given to using soothing creams to smooth over her wrinkles. It's kind of like telling the body politic that "Death Becomes Her."
Posted by: N.M. Rod | March 15, 2008 4:40 AM
Hi all,
Is it true that out of 100 Senators only one, Obama, is black?
Is there a racial problem in America?
Are most Americans eager to pretend that it does not, in fact, exist?
Is this something that permeates American politics and the public, including the church?
Are those who are impolitic enough to speak their 'hearts' out and force a confrontation of the issue possibly 'prophets'?
Might the comments here be more about race and the separate historical narratives than they are about right and wrong?
I'd like to hear your answers. I am in East Africa, you see, where Kenya, one of the countries here, erupted into ethnic violence following disputed election results. That proved that the 'peace' that country had hitherto seemed to 'enjoy' was a lie.
The truth has come out clearly that the church in Kenya, along with politics etc, was/is divided along 'tribal' lines.
Please forgive me for making a 'comparison'. Is this happening in America, oh, maybe in a little more sophisticated, subtle, 'polite' manner?
Alu
Dar es Salaam
Posted by: Robert Alu | March 15, 2008 5:01 AM
Christopher wrote:
I take great exception to your comments concerning Jeremiah Wright. In many of the sermons mentioned recently by news media, he is not preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is preaching anti-America slander, gossip, and ignorance. To defend his statements by comparing his style to that of Douglas is reprehensible. I think you would be hard-pressed to find a historian/scholar who would put Douglas on the same level as Wright.
Diana Butler Bass wrote:
To prepare [for teaching the black church studies course], I had to read literally thousands of pages of black preaching and theology covering the entire scope of American history.
Christopher, unless you had read the same thousands of pages that Diana read, I don't see how you can legitimately criticize Diana's comparison of Dr. Wright to Frederick Douglass.
Letjusticerolldown wrote:
I am more than willing to critically review Dr Wright if you [e.g., Christopher] are willing to do the work to listen to Dr Wright (e.g. as DBB did in her assignment).
That's good advice, Christopher.
Peace,
Posted by: Don | March 15, 2008 7:35 AM
It's too bad Ms. Bass couldn't address the *content* of Wright's remarks, instead of issuing platitudes about learning to listen to black preaching.
I don't know anyone who's offended that there is powerful black preaching. I know quite a few people in disbelief that Wright preaches things like the US government invented AIDS to perpetrate genocide on people of color.
The fact that people have suffered is no excuse for rank nonsense.
Posted by: Chicagoan | March 15, 2008 8:12 AM
"Do you really think that the man you chose to perform your wedding is a gnat compared to the man you sought out for an endorsement?"Kevin S
Yeah and I'm sure he preached like that at Obama's wedding also.
But now to McCain- It was interesting to see the Bill Moyers program that talked about how McCain was for "preemptive" war even before Bush had come out in favor of it and even before 9/11. So he's has the potential to be worse than Bush in launching unprovoked, unjustified wars. Makes you kind of hope that the Dems play the clip of McCain singing "bomb bomb bomb, bomb Iran" during the fall campaign and juxtapose that against pictures of civilian casualties to highlight the moral low ground of his stance on these issues.
I have read here, Kevin, that you like McCain. Is it that his support for preemptive war outweighs his former support of amnesty for undocumented aliens? After all, once legalized, they then can conscripted into the empire's military forces.
Posted by: JamesMartin | March 15, 2008 8:19 AM
Black preachers would do best, by taking the immense log out of their community's eyes. Everywhere on earth where Blacks live, poverty, violence, mysogyny, fatherless children, filthy city conditions, barred windows and doors and corruption are standard conditions. The history of Africans, is black on black violence. It was Blacks that sold Black slaves to Muslims that sold them to white europeans. Even today IN African country after African country, violence, poverty and genocide BLACK ON BLACK is an every second occurrence. It is well past time for Black Christians to employ Black Liberation theology in reality. Time to start cleaning their own houses first. Wright lies effortlessly. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are just one example. How about the whole story when it comes to "preaching" the truth.
Posted by: Proper Perspective | March 15, 2008 8:31 AM
Good grief. What a bunch of white guilt nonsense, DBB. There's a huge difference between being a prophetic voice against injustice and calling the country in which YOU live and gives YOU the freedom to speak the USKKKA and implying that 9/11 was in direct response to past American actions. What a crock.
Posted by: ja | March 15, 2008 9:01 AM
I do wonder how any of the Old Testament prophets (in particular, Jeremiah, the name sake of so much focus this week) would fare in this current political climate. As I recall, he was condemned, beaten, ridiculed and jailed for espousing his views as he heard them from the Lord and spoke those words, was regarded as "hateful" and "intolerant" and even "unpatriotic." If such ridicule is the price we must pay as preachers and prophets for being faithful to the gospel, I pray that most preachers would choose the ridicule, even if it earns us the scorn of the media and the culture.
Posted by: Kenneth James | March 15, 2008 9:04 AM
I believe DBB writes her piece as she does, not to defend Dr. Wright, but as she explains upfront, that the reaction to his words represents a misunderstanding between black and white Christians.
Comments here demonstrate that divide. We can accept her words (not agree) as a gift to help understand.
She likely does not address the details of Dr. Wright's words because her piece is aimed at the misunderstanding evidenced by the reactions.
I will gladly explore the details of Dr. Wright's words with anyone who wants to reduce the misunderstanding.
I agree with N.M.Rod that the media spectacle is about 'Blackening' Obama. And I gently remind every Christian brother and sister here that if you are not given to reducing the misunderstanding; you are given to the division. And that division is one born of the Enemy, and in this case a long, historic, white racism.
I cannot hear the words "God damn America" as nice words. They aren't nice words. But they are also not the 'curse words' we hear on the streets and have trained our ears to hear. In context Dr. Wright confronts us with a series of America's actions and asks us whether we can then innocently ask and expect for God's blessings--when what the actions call for are God's judgment. The words said nothing more than that. Do you have a problem with that?
Do you have a problem with saying, "How can America abort 40 million children, look at the fetuses torn limb from limb, and then hold hands and sing Kum-ba-yah? No. Honestly--we deserve God's judgment."
But we can't hear his words for what they are. Because there is a misunderstanding. That is not an insult. It is not an allegation. It is observing there is a misunderstanding.
It is not mindlessly defending every word. It is identifying a misunderstanding. This is what DBB attempts to address. Are you open to listening?
I was born and bred and raised in a Christian sub-culture that when we looked at Dr. King we could only see 'trouble-maker' and 'likely a fake liberal Christian'. We were blind. Our blindness does not make Dr. King perfect. But my life challenge was not to judge Dr. King. It was to overcome my blindness. And finally being able to hear Dr. King was part of the process. And finally being able to hear Dr. Wright was part of the process.
And his statments still make my heart cringe. And I still must kick myself to listen and hear and not assume my socio-cultural defined hearing is the Sprit's discernment.
Posted by: letjusticerolldown | March 15, 2008 9:34 AM
"Obama repudiated the message"
please - he has been his spiritual advisor for 20 years
Obama is lying - he knows full well of Wrights comments and has been called on them before
To say he never heard these things and is only just now denouncing them is a lie and he should be called on it.
The UCC is becoming a huge thorn in the side of the Obama campaign what with the IRS investigation and Rev Wright
In my opinion the National offices of the UCC are a PAC masquerading as a denomination.
Posted by: Paul Jamieson | March 15, 2008 9:48 AM
Letjustice, your words are encouraging. I do think you have touched the true spirit of Diana's writing here.
In addition to the reality of the racial divide, however, Dr. Wright's statements are intersecting with the always volatile and currently very ugly world of politics, because of Barack Obama's candidacy. Not only is the racial divide making it hard for many to listen, but the political realities are reinforcing many desires to simply dismiss Dr. Wright (and thereby Obama as well). So many white Americans have two divides to overcome before being able to hear Dr. Wright at all. It will be very difficult to overcome both.
The AIDS and the 9-11 thing are very difficult to hear. I don't understand them, and part of me says I should reject them. I would like to simply ignore them as rants, if not denounce them as some here have done. But we do have to realize we're hearing these things out of context--that was one of Diana's points. Even if we hear or read the entire speech, we are missing much necessary background information.
As easy as it might be to simply dismiss these statements, and with no evidence to view them otherwise, something is nevertheless telling me that they are not "rank nonsense."
Peace,
Posted by: Don | March 15, 2008 9:51 AM
In my opinion the National offices of the UCC are a PAC masquerading as a denomination.
Do you know any UCC members? If not, then don't speak out of ignorance.
Posted by: Don | March 15, 2008 9:52 AM
So, Ja. Would you explain what the "white guilt nonsense is?" Are you aware of what state governments were controlled by the KKK?
Dr Wright obviously is leveling a critique at the United States. Would you briefly describe what you understand him to be saying in his critique and specify your disagreement?
Posted by: letjusticerolldown | March 15, 2008 9:54 AM
Hey Don - are you still ignoring me?
You don't have to go to the Synod with Barak to see hear the nauseating political tripe from the National UCC
You can go to any number of their churches any given Sunday and hear about, Global Warming, the hatred of President Bush, or a myriad of other liberal causes.
Its high time someone investigated this Political Action Committee masquerading as a denomination
I am Former member of Topsfield MA UCC, until I was excoriated for being a conservative. All I did was ask the Pastor to stop talking politics from the pulpit.
Like the Thanksgiving Day sermon in 2002 where my minister compared measle infected blankets given to the Indians by colonists as the "very first WMD's"
or the Homecoming sermon on September 22 when he compared 911 to the Great Flood - to punish the USA
Posted by: Paul Jamieson | March 15, 2008 10:08 AM
In my opinion the National offices of the UCC are a PAC masquerading as a denomination.Posted by: Paul Jamieson |
Maybe you should read the blog rules about disparaging denominations here.
Posted by: JamesMartin | March 15, 2008 10:10 AM
I understand what you're saying and believe your justification for it, but racism is still racism no matter how you slice it.
Posted by: GB | March 15, 2008 10:11 AM
At last a true prophet speaks the truth about the government deliberately spreading aids in the African-American community and the white power structure reacts with outrage. Again, a strong African-American will be destroyed. this is the price of prophecy.
Posted by: Norman Pace | March 15, 2008 10:27 AM
Imagine if Obama were white, and his preacher was shouting like a Nazi or a KKK member.
Butler Bass would not be trying to spin that.
Shame on you, Diana Butler Bass!!!
Posted by: jazzact13 | March 15, 2008 11:11 AM
"Maybe you should read the blog rules about disparaging denominations here"
Maybe you should understand how some denominations disparage their members.
I lost a lot of friends and a church that was truly diverse with both left and right before all the politics came into play.
It was a small but vocal and active minority that split my church in half resulting in nothing but acrimony and good people leaving a church they loved.
Posted by: Paul Jamieson | March 15, 2008 11:21 AM
Hey Don - are you still ignoring me?
Not now that you've stopped shouting. Not that you've gotten any better at persuasive dialogue. You still seem to prefer attacking to reasoning.
You don't have to go to the Synod with Barak to see hear the nauseating political tripe from the National UCC
Just because you personally disagree with their positions, that doesn't justify your labeling them a PAC. I disagree with my denomination's "official" position on several things, but they aren't issuing their position statements to be political. They're trying to shed biblical light on current issues. I haven't seen that the UCC is any different.
Like the Thanksgiving Day sermon in 2002 where my minister compared measle infected blankets given to the Indians by colonists as the "very first WMD's"
If the blankets were given to the Native Americans for the purpose of infecting and killing them with disease, is the analogy really false?
or the Homecoming sermon on September 22 when he compared 911 to the Great Flood - to punish the USA
Maybe not to punish us, but it certainly was a divine wake-up call. A wake-up call that we have yet to heed. Read Habakkuk.
D
Posted by: Don | March 15, 2008 11:23 AM
Question: if in fact Rev. Wright is speaking prophetically as some on here are claiming, why is Obama denouncing the message? Shouldn't he be embracing it as God's judgement on 21st-century America? Why would he want to go against God?
Posted by: Rev. Stan Zack | March 15, 2008 11:31 AM
As a young, white male I never knew the intensity of the civil rights movements. However, I was raised to always treat people of all different colors with respect and dignity, the way Christ would. It pains me to see that racial prejudice against minorities does still exist, even though I have done all I could to not fuel the fire of prejudice, but instead stand up for the oppressed.
However, despite my motives in trying to build a relationship with African-Americans, I have found it very hard to do so at times. Almost always, it is more difficult for me to achieve friendship with black Christians than blacks who are not Christians. Now, this is from my experience only and there is no scientific data to go along with this. But I wonder if comments from black preachers like Rev. Wright does not fuel the prejudice towards white people, especially white people my age who are doing all we can to stand up for them and distance ourselves from our previous generations' prejudices. The greatest black leaders and Christians of our time were not radical in the way Rev. Wright was radical, yet they have had more impact on our society (e.g. Martin Luther King Jr.).
Others on here have also elevated Rev. Wright to the controversial prophets of Israel. But Rev. Wright is different from the Israelite prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures in the fact that a lot of his comments are meant to divide, the prophets of old warned Israel of their destruction because of their division between themselves and God; there is a difference there.
I really, really do sympathize for the black community in our society and I can understand (will really I can't) where Rev. Wright is coming from, but I think there is always a better approach than a message that is filled with anger. White and black Christians all over America really need to begin learning how to truly love each other, not by just saying it, but actually showing that love to one another. We need to help our black brothers and sisters when they experience social injustice (and they still do), but I also believe that black Christians need to be more patience with our slower white brothers and sisters, because Lord knows it takes us awhile to get on board.
Posted by: Matt G. | March 15, 2008 11:55 AM
Please,
Stop apologizing for hate speech. You are not making any sense. Disgusting!
Posted by: Ray | March 15, 2008 12:10 PM
In my opinion the National offices of the UCC are a PAC masquerading as a denomination.Posted by: Paul Jamieson
Maybe you should read the blog rules about disparaging denominations here.
Posted by: JamesMartin | March 15, 2008 10:10 AM
Jesus named names and went after individuals as well as corrupt societies and gropus. B-Net should not inflict Christian honesty in conversations with a humanist PC indoctriantion method. Naming names is honesty. Vague inuendos serves no purpose for getting to the truth. No Apostles was vague on right and wronf either.
Posted by: Rocks only hurt a little. I know. | March 15, 2008 12:31 PM
N.M.Rod: "This is more about "blackening" Obama as being out of the white power mainstream than anything else. The white majority's not going to want anyone elected who hasn't bought into their own view of themselves"
I'm going to agree with you here. Of course, the "white power mainstream" has been responsible for making the USA the most prosperous nation on earth, so white fear might be justified in fearing a candidate who doesn't believe in the basic values system that they do. Barack recognizes this and was doing fine until Wright's racist, ignorant tape rantings were exposed. Obama's condemnation of them and his distancing himself from Wright had to be done or he had no chance to be elected. I find it ironic that blacks who have bought into this values system of education and hard work are generally more prosperous than those who have not, so what's wrong with buying into something that works?
Posted by: Cads | March 15, 2008 12:38 PM
Reviewing the sad comments here, it's clear that what I've experienced in life is true - America's original sin, racism, has never been fully acknowledged or repented of.
Surely, there are many who have tried, and efforts at reconciliation have been made. Laws themselves have been reformed. That is good and useful.
But laws, any legalistic response to a problem, do not change hearts.
That this is true is evident from the fact that a cruel civil war and a constitutional amendment resulted in little change in many people's hearts - lived out in in their actions and little damning laws against racial minorities and for an unequal aprtheid for a century afterword.
The most popular speaker in America, well into the twentieth century, was minister, speaker and author Thomas W. Dixon. His views informed the popular majority culture. His enormously popular and well-written, even inspiring books informed the sensibilities of our nascent entertainment media from its very beginnings.
His best-selling "The Clansman" was the inspiration for one of the greatest American films ever made, "Birth of a Nation," adapted by Hollywood's greatest director, David W. Griffith.
Yet those intensely patriotic, self sacrificial and noble heroes of his religious and patriotic novels and Griffith's great films, are members of a secret revolutionary and proudly terrorist organization called the Klan, dedicated to reclaiming land and soil, according to blood, calling America back to her first principles of civilization and freedom.
America heeded that call. The era of Reconstruction, where the former slaves were given land and implements, served in legislatures, held positions of responsibility, were all cruelly withdrawn and recalled, through intimidation, violence and assassination.
The Klan - yes, that selfsame KKK glorified by America's seminal public entertainment and popular literature - was the expression of loyalty to the founding Sin, calling it Service to Mankind and through its exercise of the belief in redemptive violence returned the nation to that sin. Prophetically, we might say according to the insight of the wisest counselor, as found in the Book of Proverbs:
"As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly."
Very few now will dare openly disparage or criticise Dr. Martin Luther King. Yet those who are hardest-hearted and short of memory now have political ancestors who did, in the recent past.
Lies, innuendo, rumors, false witness, surveillance, threats, arrest, violence and eventually death confronted Dr. King, those he championed and his supporters - all from within the twisted regions of the communal soul that is white America. Pastors preached sermons against him.
Evangelicals and fundamentalists trumpeted segregation and Jim Crow as core spiritual Americana. The highest law enforcement agency in the land launched vile secret plots to get him to commit suicide, labelled and libelled him the worst hanging epithet of treason, a "Communist" in the employ of the Soviet Union.
Yet a white conservative pastor from the Assemblies of God says, callously, without insight or understanding,
"I don't care what my people did."
The twisted things that are still in the saddle of some of our souls, that ride our portion of mankind, still remain to be exorcised from white America.
For us to repent, we must listen to some undiplomatic and
iconoclastic prophetic language. We must hear the pain of the hate we conjured up in the terms we expressed and lived it against these peoples, both the African and the Amerindian, without stopping our ears and gnashing our teeth.
"You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.
"Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.
"They cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears and rushed at him with one impulse.
"When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him."
Only when we truly realize and acknowledge the horrid depth of our national sin can we repent, recompense and reconcile with one another.
Posted by: Sojourner Truth | March 15, 2008 12:50 PM
"Re-read DBB. It is an appeal to listen. To listen. To listen. To listen. To listen. To hear outside of one's framework for listening/hearing."
You keep saying this, but it doesn't mean anything. I hear what he is saying, and I know where he is coming from. Even in the context of his own theology and race perspective, his comments are unacceptable.
I bristle at the notion that we cannot expect black people, even spiritual leaders, to exhibit any measure of control of their tongue (as the Bible commands of leaders). I outright reject the notion that I may not disagreement constitutes deafness.
"I haven't even heard most of these comments of Dr. Wright."
Ironic, given the above admonition.
Posted by: kevin s. | March 15, 2008 1:08 PM
Cads
If you begin with the assumption that the white power mainstream has been responsible for US success and leave the statement there, you imply that what the mainstream did in order to make the US so successful was right and good.
The first assumption is overly simplistic. Slavery built much of the early wealth of this nation was a white mainstream choice that was obviously wrong.
The wealth this nation garnered from the genocide of our native peoples is another.
I am surprised that you approach this subject from this angle, but I think these two examples should answer your question.
If a native American gave the same sermon Mr Wright gave, I, as a white male might take offense but I doubt I would be justified in doing so.
You easily believe that "white fear might be justified in fearing a candidate who doesn't believe in the basic values system that they do."
Logic would say it is the peoples of color in this nation that have justified fear, and that any anger they might speak of should be heard in their context and not just reacted to. The fact that their anger may not be "Christian" does not change the fact that it is the only anger that has justifiable roots.
Posted by: wayne.danley | March 15, 2008 1:36 PM
I would never, ever be led by the Holy Spirit"
'So you know ahead of time just what the Spirit of the Lord will say and how He will lead"
The Holy Spirit never contradicts the word of God . Too many of us have been led by evil without knowing it .
Posted by: Bibical Truth | March 15, 2008 1:54 PM
I'm a white 54 year old male who happens to agree with much, but not all of Pastor Wrights statements and here's why. It's been almost 40 years since, then, president Nixon, declared a war against drugs. Yet, over the years, this government has wasted billions of dollars of our taxes ineptly and the illicit drugs keep coming. Where do most of these illegal drugs end up; well, I think we all now the answer to this question. Now, let's talk about the gang killings in the poor sections of LA: What if anything, is our government really doing to solve this, ever worsening problem. The simple answer is...not nearly enough, and ashamedly, that's always been the problem.
Posted by: Kevin Murray | March 15, 2008 1:56 PM
Matt G.,
Relationship across racial lines is seldom easy. I know I have dedicated my life to the gospel of reconciliation across all lines. It's difficult and wrought with pain and loss. It's also rewarding and healing. Keep doing what you are doing and show that you are worthy of the trust you seek to find in the black community. It will come.
Proper Perspective,
I wish he would shove that plank somewhere else. The truth is that much of the poverty and problems in Africa can be traced back to colonization and other racist policies whites instituted. Look at South Africa and tell me about that plank would you? The same racist and tired arguments can be found in every white nation on earth. has anyone seen the unemployment rates in France? What about the urban poor and destitute in London? There are currently more white women on welfare than any other group. The fact is that poverty is a human problem and until we all start working on it nothing will change.
It is not just black people it's all of us. We are all human beings and we should all work to solve this insidious spiritual issue.
p
Posted by: Payshun | March 15, 2008 2:04 PM
Like the Thanksgiving Day sermon in 2002 where my minister compared measle infected blankets given to the Indians by colonists as the "very first WMD's"
"If the blankets were given to the Native Americans for the purpose of infecting and killing them with disease, is the analogy really false"
If it was true I think it would make some sense .Actually there is a letter that many in the anti american crowd use to promote this rumor , butwas way after the long after America was founded . Its been proven false , never happened . Americans did partake in a Halocaust of sorts with the Native people here , but infected blankets was not part of the method.
I think that is why people are speaking about this Pastor and the anology of him spreading racial hatred like the KKK . If that was true , the anology is true also . The thing that politically will follow Obama is why did he not leave the church . And people speaking up defending Wright will make make many in the suburbs think what does this have to do with anything . Simple fact is most people identify being called American , hearing how hateful they are and the hate you can hear in the preaching , they will normally think he is a nut . They themelves are concerned with inflation , their job security , etc , they was a President they feel is on their side . Thats why King was so such a great leader , and thats why Obama is such a great leader.
By the way Don , what is this John Hague thing . I sometime listen to the Bible Answer man on the radio and he was speaking to his cultish beliefs . But he has a huge following ? And does he preach hatred ?
Sometimes deluded people may aggree with many of our views , but go off on tangents like Hague and WRIGHT .
THAT DOES NOT DISQUALIFY your other opinions . I never heard Obama preaching Wright's hatred , or heard some of the anti American rhetoric I heard here , Obama or many of us do not put the Flag above our Faith , but many of us believe in the American Dream and believe America is a good country and a good way of moving forward .
That is why people like Obama get into politics . To keep moving forward .
King pointed us towards our better Angels , why defend this loony tune ?
Posted by: Mick | March 15, 2008 2:18 PM
Obama is running for President of the most powerful nation in the world,many people do not like that power,but it has helped them as well as us. In the wrong hands,or 'handlers like Wright who was trying to manipulate his congregation withhis hate speech,we could lose all we stand for.
Obama dscredited Geraldine Ferraro and others in the commentary business of news,and made them apologize and/or resign. Yet he claims his 20 year ignorance of Wright's ways to be valid.
This ignorance cannot stand,it is even worse than if he said he knew about it, Geraldine was right, a white man of his same stature would not be where he is today.
No man of any color should be in a position to have all the advantages he has had and still hate this country."Change" his motto,has now become a very scary word.
Look at all the people who have not been able to run becasue of him,Ewards,Biden, and other good men,who have stood the test of tiem and not whined like him..and this is all that's left.
It is not because he is a black man, it is becasue he sat unde r this man and let him disgrace the country that was so good to him then decided to run for President engorged with all that hate speech.
How could he or any other man,een listen to that garbage ,it is so Black Panther and extreme, the N word and all..how dare he?
To support hate speech and those who entertain those who speak it is to beas culpable,to support it ,this article is no differentthan th eignorance that begat it.
Please drop out Obama,and shame on you for letting this exist.
I have walked out on preachers for less, for denigrating other churches or people as 'sinners the lord died for sinners..bth epointing finger of hate is alwasy out there.
Jesus was killed by zealots like these, th e Pharisees,seems like we will be drinking the kol aid of Jim Jones,another preacher if he gets our vote.
Posted by: Mae | March 15, 2008 2:38 PM
Kevin,
Given you do understand Dr. Wright--please just choose one of what you consider the most offensive comments and just summarize how it fits in his framework--and then critique. Please.
All you specifically raised here is, "If your theology brings you to the point of blaming American sin for terrorist attacks, then you are in Pat Robertson territory." I don't conclude "Pat Robertson territory" to be a critique.
I believe Dr. Wright's words were "chickens coming home to roost" which is a colloquialism for reaping what we sow (straight from the mouth of Jesus).
Kevin, I have zero interest in arguing about Dr. Wright's words except as a window to erase some of the misunderstanding that DBB targets her piece at. If you are interested, I am interested. Or do you see no misunderstanding?
Posted by: letjusticerolldown | March 15, 2008 2:48 PM
Mick
I do not think the intention is to defend the statements of Wright, and I also am glad to hear Obama's words repudiating them.
I think the point is that if we are to be reconciled then we white guys will have to spend some time trying to understand the words and what pain lies behind them. Knee jerk reactions from the majority white population that only repudiate will at best look like a justification of our history and an abrogation of any wrongs that were done.
Simply put, no number of wrongs will ever make a right. We must take responsibility for how we hear. Mr Wright will have to take responsibility for what he says.
Posted by: wayne | March 15, 2008 3:01 PM
Mae--are you interested in lessening the misunderstanding between white and black Christians? Or do you see no misunderstanding?
"why defend this loony tune ?" Mick
Mick--are you interested in lessening the misunderstanding...or do you see none?
Do you think those who are buy sifting through Dr. Wright's sermons/words looking for something for Hannity to replay are interested in building understanding?
Posted by: letjusticerolldown | March 15, 2008 3:02 PM
letjusticerolldown, If there are any chickens coming home to roost, it is seen in vivid color by the nature of corruption and sin within every black community in every inner-city in America. AIDS is obtained through immoraility. No white government agents are holding black men and women, boys and girls down and injecting them with HIV. The fatherless structure of so many Black homes is a curse on this country. The gangs and violence IN the inner-city is almost exclusively Black on Black crime. Even Blacks, looking for a better life and community move out of the inner-city and into white suburbia to escape the truth of reality. Pastor Wright, should stick to the logs in his own community's eyes and remove them one by one. It will take hundreds of years to overcome the nature of Black culture, and of it being so OK with the conditions of Black immorality. Just ten-minutes listening to hip-hop or pop Black music is enough to see that the sins so condoned have nothing to do with white America. Wright is preaching cop-out and scape-goatism in the worst imaginaeable way.
Posted by: Rocks only hurt a little. I know. | March 15, 2008 3:14 PM
With friends like Wright, who needs enemies. His church was even responsible for SELLING these tapes to news organizations - I mean, how stupid was that? Doesn't the hierarchy of his church want Obama to get elected? I'm glad to see Barack is now trying to distance himself from this kind of stupidity and trying hard to appeal to middle America. It's his only chance to get elected and I wish him well. He has a REAL chance to change race relations in this country forever if he sticks to a middle ground.
And Wayne, I can't help what happened over 140 years ago to Native Americans and slaves. Of course slavery and the way Natives were treated was wrong, but we've now risen above these atrocities and consider human rights all important. You can't change the past, so why keep bringing it up? Plus, historically, you're wrong. Slavery was responsible for the agricultural South's economy and the industrial North was what drove this country to its current prosperity. The South lost the war more because of its slave economy than any other reason.
All I can realistically address are the opportunities available to all races in today's America if education and hard work are emphasized over all else. As a white male, I'm embarrased by the increasing number of able-bodied white trash who think that it's fine to accept government handouts as their primary source of income.
Barack seems to have risen to his present position through stressing and living true American values, not by tearing down the country that has given him these opportunities. Good for him and shame on those people whose primary goal is to blame our country for all of the world's woes.
Posted by: Cads | March 15, 2008 3:35 PM
People should really read Frederick Douglass. he said the same thing Wright said and no one damned him for it.
p
Posted by: Payshun
Douglass was a hoot , but your wrong he was quite ontroversal , even mong blacks .
And The KKK was saying things back then also , does not make it right .
Posted by: Mick | March 15, 2008 3:44 PM
How can you defend this guy? This his pastor and he also called him a mentor. This is not just on occurence of flat out hatred against white people and the United States of America, this is this guy's life. This is stepping over the line in my opinion, you are defending this pastor just because you like Obama. If anyone else's 'mentor' repeatedly said GD and spat hatred from the pulpit then you would be all over him/her. Please try and be fair when you post on this blog.
Posted by: Russell | March 15, 2008 3:45 PM
Simply put, no number of wrongs will ever make a right. We must take responsibility for how we hear. Mr Wright will have to take responsibility for what he says.
Posted by: wayne
Wayne I understand what you mean , but remember its a two way conversation . I had much more understanding of what he was saying , mainly from listening here .
and I bet the sermons end up with acceptance , tolerance and Love involved . We get the grit .
But say when Ferro recently said the only reason Barak has come this far is because of his race , my values , said it was a racist statement. Not neccessarily she was a racist . These are racist statements , and to say I need to understand , I agree . But does Ferro comments have no basis for understanding , yes I can understand where she was coming from . And Barak might have been helped because of his race in some states , but in Iowa ? Obviously the guy has something going for him . Her statements were still racist . So are Wright's .
Also the anti American rants and the constant theme of religious figures putting the flag above God makes sense to many here , but to the average American , who considers themself an American and belong to a noble nation which tries to do right , when it does wrong tries to correct it are offended by what this guy says here .
It may sound normal in your circles wayne , but most people have job worries as is even reported here , just making ends meet, medical concerns , family tradegies , drug abuse , etc , and this rhetoric of how easy they got it and they support a terrible country because their white , well it can hurt Obama by people defending it , like I said its a two way conversation and both sides need to understand .
Defending it makes it worse . Understanding it does not make it right Wayne .
Posted by: Mick | March 15, 2008 4:02 PM
"I can't help what happened over 140 years ago to Native Americans and slaves. Of course slavery and the way Natives were treated was wrong, but we've now risen above these atrocities and consider human rights all important. You can't change the past, so why keep bringing it up? Plus, historically, you're wrong."
You could help recompense by redressing what happened back then now. It's no good to sit atop a pile of wealth and privilege that was heaped up by your fathers through wrongdoing, and as the beneficiary of that in so many ways, defend the status quo of present inequality by proclaiming it the starting point for a self-serving future "equality."
The Trust Funds for Native American tribes, administered by the Interior Department, which amount in the trillions, can't be found. The government keeps being cited for contempt for its inability to provide any accounting whatsoever, yet never has its feet held truly to the fire. Treaty abrogations are still occurring and resolutions for past ones can literally drag on in white courts for a century. Tribes are still terminated and lose recognition.
No matter how many official documents have leaders of the past approving of smallpox as accomplishing genocidal aims, even counselling that it be done intentionally, the white person convinced against his will is of the same opinion still - he conveniently pretends atrocities never happened.
The number of Indians and African-Americans who are imprisoned or under court supervision is all out of proportion to their percentages of the population, even by our out of whack standards where America has 5% of the world's population, but 25% of its incarcerated population. There is systemic and structural injustice which serves the present economic and political interests of the descendants of the overt abusers of the past.
Convictions of minorities on such a massive scale serve to disenfranchise and discredit the political power of entire peoples who can never vote their own economic and political interests as white majorities carefully do.
Are human rights now paramount, or are they just "quaint artifacts" to be disposed of when any threat to white hegemony looms. internationally or domestically?
"Blind guides and hypocrites - so careful to polish the outside, while inside is foul with extortion and greed.
You pretend to be holy while evicting widows from their homes. You tithe down to the last mint leaf in your garden, but you ignore justice, mercy and faith. You go to all lengths to make one convert, then turn him into twice the son of hell you are yourselves. You try to look like saintly men, but underneath are hearts besmirched with every sort of hypocrisy and sin.
"You build monuments to the prophets killed by your fathers and lay flowers on the graves of the godly men they destroyed, and say, 'We certainly would never have acted as our fathers did.'
"In saying that you are accusing yourselves of being the sons of wicked men. And you are following in their steps, filling up the full measure of their evil.
"Snakes! Sons of vipers! How shall you escape the judgment of hell?"
All that from Jesus' condemnations of the nationalistic religious leaders of his own time.
Posted by: Sojourner Truth | March 15, 2008 4:25 PM
So should Pastor Wright's church lose its tax exempt status? Obviously favoring one candidate while castigating another and all...
Posted by: aaron
I wonder if the separation of church and state folks will do an investigation . Their leader is from the same denomination as Wright , and their politics are the same .
Posted by: Mick | March 15, 2008 4:34 PM
“Given you do understand Dr. Wright--please just choose one of what you consider the most offensive comments and just summarize how it fits in his framework--and then critique. Please.”
Sure thing. Wright says the we should sing “God Damn America” in lieu of “God bless America”. The latter asks God to bless America, to stand beside her and guide her. Wright’s comments introduce a couple of problems.
1) Given that he considers 9/11 to be an example of God’s wrath, he is asking his congregants to invoke similar wrath upon themselves.
2) He is, essentially, asking for America to perpetuate the sin that would bring about God’s damnation. The prophets warned of God’s wrath, whereas Wright is asking for it.
3) Unless Wright has been a perfect keeper of OT law, he has no business calling wrath upon anyone else.
Wright states that the chickens are coming home to roost, which is a Biblical reference of sorts. Okay, here is the problem:
1) Black people died in 9/11. Is God so careless as to bring judgment upon the victims of oppression? This is a valid criticism of Falwell’s statements as well.
2) The economic devastation, albeit tempered by economic growth, had a much more dramatic effect on the poor
3) NYC, and Manhattan in particular, are hardly a hotbed of KKK activity.
Wright states that “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.”
1) This is not appropriate rhetoric to come from a church leader.
2) Where the heck does this come from?
He says that people support Hillary because she appears, in essence, to be more Roman to them. In this narrative, Obama is a Christ-like figure, and support for Hillary represents hatred of Christ. There are some problems with this:
1) Obama, unlike Christ, is not without sin.
2) There is no reference, anywhere, to Christ being especially persecuted because of race. In fact, many of the Jewish leaders responsible for his death had strong ties to the Roman Empire.
3) The Bible teaches that we all (blacks included) are responsible for Christ’s murder. That’s the point.
4) Obama presently leads both Hillary and McCain in the polls, and has been very popular in the Midwest.
4) Being white does not make one part of the Roman Empire. The gospel was shared to gentiles.
Posted by: kevin s. | March 15, 2008 4:38 PM
The hypernationalistic, ethnocentric bigots who have posted here have shown themselves to be incorrigible. One can only hope that they have shrunk to a vestigial organ within the American body politic.
Posted by: N.M. Rod | March 15, 2008 4:44 PM
Whatever one thinks of Dr. Jeremiah Wright's parody of the Irving Berlin song, "God Bless America" is not a Christian hymn. Rather, it's part of America's folk religion, a religion which is couched in Christian terminology laced with nationalism, but which has little to do with authentic Christianity.
Where in the Bible are Christians enjoined to pray a prayer that asks (or commands?) God to bless a nation-state? Nowhere.
To the extent that America's Christian churches have bought into this folk religion, to that extent they do not reflect the authentic faith described in the New Testament and witnessed by the apostles and the martyrs.
Peace,
Posted by: Don | March 15, 2008 4:56 PM
Rocks only hurt a little,
Please don't speak on black culture. It would seem you know so little about it to comment on it. Black culture is a lot bigger than the urban poor but what would you know about it. Oh and btw Reverend Wright has worked in the past alleviate that. If you doubt that then look at the disciple he raised in Barak Obama. Please in the future read more about black culture before you persist in talking about stuff you seem to know nothing about.
here are a list of authors you should check out:
David Walker
WEB Du Bois
Mary Stewart
Cornell West
Shelby Steele
p
Posted by: Payshun | March 15, 2008 5:13 PM
Some Frederick Douglass:
America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future.
Power concedes nothing without demand. It never has and never will. Show me the exact amount of wrong and injustices that are visited upon a person and I will show you the exact amount of words endured by these people.
The life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.
The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.
The soul that is within me no man can degrade.
To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.
p
Posted by: Payshun | March 15, 2008 5:18 PM
Mick--are you interested in lessening the misunderstanding...or do you see none?
Do you think those who are buy sifting through Dr. Wright's sermons/words looking for something for Hannity to replay are interested in building understanding?
Posted by: letjusticerolldown
I expect Hanity , Rush ,Levine to use it as an issue to hurt Barak , link him to the views , much like people who sometimes debate here do .
I expect the political left to do run from the real issue and cover up the comments as unimportant .
The conversation would be great , but there are no black leaders today that can handle it , or white . Barak has made his campaign as a person who unites Americans , and I really don't see him talking to this either . I am not sure how he feels , and that will be used by the political right to promote a bad view for us to see.
For him to be President now he will have to address this , and this could be good .
I was speaking to middle America, and conservatives /liberals who also happen to share the same weights and balance system at looking at things . To prove my point , the chance at people understanding would not be possible if the things Wright said are true .
America is a good place , and people do try to do the right thing . I believe that .
I got raked over the coals once for speaking to the view smaller government works best , local control is common sense to me .
I had no idea supporting local control was seen as a code word for racism ., so yeah understanding is important , but when Americans support of locol control is identified as racist , the understanding needs to go both ways . Understanding the past allows us a better future . Understanding the past should not promote a worse future.His sermon I am sure makes more sense to the folks who heard it , to me its like watching an R rated movie . I am desenistized I admit , but watch a movie with my 25 year old daughter these days or my wife who hates violence and such I still get embarrased. His movie/sermon got to a different audience , and many are seeing wow , this is pretty nasty stuff.
Posted by: Mick | March 15, 2008 5:22 PM
Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.
Here is a speech he made during an independence day celebration. Read it. this is part 1
"Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens:
He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I do this day. A feeling has crept over me quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning. I trust, however, that mine will not be so considered. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country school houses, avails me nothing on the present occasion.
The papers and placards say that I am to deliver a Fourth of July Oration. This certainly sounds large, and out of the common way, for me. It is true that I have often had the privilege to speak in this beautiful Hall, and to address many who now honor me with their presence. But neither their familiar faces, nor the perfect gage I think I have of Corinthian Hall seems to free me from embarrassment.
The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable-and the difficulties to he overcome in getting from the latter to the former are by no means slight. That I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. You will not, therefore, be surprised, if in what I have to say I evince no elaborate preparation, nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and trusting to your patient and generous indulgence I will proceed to lay them before you.
This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the Fourth of July. It is the birth day of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. This, to you, as what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. It carries your minds back to the day, and to the act of your great deliverance; and to the signs, and to the wonders, associated with that act, and that day. This celebration also marks the beginning of another year of your national life; and reminds you that the Republic of America is now 76 years old. l am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. I repeat, I am glad this is so. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. The eye of the reformer is met with angry flashes, portending disastrous times; but his heart may well beat lighter at the thought that America is young, and that she is still in the impressible stage of her existence. May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? Were the nation older, the patriot's heart might be sadder, and the reformer's brow heavier. Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. There is consolation in the thought that America is young.-Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. But, while the river may not be turned aside, it may dry up, and leave nothing behind but the withered branch, and the unsightly rock, to howl in the abyss-sweeping wind, the sad tale of departed glory. As with rivers so with nations."
Posted by: Payshun | March 15, 2008 5:24 PM
Part 2
Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the associations that cluster about this day. The simple story of it is, that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects. The style and title of your "sovereign people" (in which you now glory) was not then born. You were under the British Crown. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. This home government, you know, although a considerable distance from your home, did, in the exercise of its parental prerogatives, impose upon its colonial children, such restraints, burdens and limitations, as, in its mature judgment, it deemed wise, right and proper.
But your fathers, who had not adopted the fashionable idea of this day, of the infallibility of government, and the absolute character of its acts, presumed to differ from the home government in respect to the wisdom and the justice of some of those burdens and restraints. They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to. I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. Such a declaration of agreement on my part would not be worth much to anybody. It would certainly prove nothing as to what part I might have taken had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. To say now that America was right, and England wrong, is exceedingly easy. Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England towards the American Colonies. It is fashionable to do so; but there was a time when, to pronounce against England, and in favor of the cause of the colonies, tried men's souls. They who did so were accounted in their day plotters of mischief, agitators and rebels, dangerous men. To side with the right against the wrong, with the weak against the strong, and with the oppressed against the oppressor! here lies the merit, and the one which, of all others, seems unfashionable in our day. The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. But, to proceed.
Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated, by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. They petitioned and remonstrated; they did so in a decorous, respectful, and loyal manner. Their conduct was wholly unexceptionable. This, however, did not answer the purpose. They saw themselves treated with sovereign indifference, coldness and scorn. Yet they persevered. They were not the men to look back.
As the sheet anchor takes a firmer hold, when the ship is tossed by the storm, so did the cause of your fathers grow stronger as it breasted the chilling blasts of kingly displeasure. The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the Br