The hypocrisy behind all of this is what is absurd.
CHICAGO — The Rev. Jeremiah Wright spent 36 years teaching this congregation how to recognize injustice, and his parishioners sense it all around them now. On Sunday, more than 3,000 of them filled Trinity United Church of Christ on the city's South Side to pray for their former pastor. They read a handout that described Wright's newfound infamy as a "modern-day lynching." They scrawled his name in tribute on the inside of their service programs and applauded as Wright's protege, the Rev. Otis Moss III, stepped to the pulpit.
"No matter what they want," Moss said, "we will not shut up."
A simmering controversy over Wright's provocative rhetoric and his connection to Sen. Barack Obama ignited last week after some of his old sermons were aired, prompting the Democratic presidential candidate to condemn them and severing Wright's connection to the campaign. But inside this mega-church that Wright built up from financial ruin, his most loyal listeners offered a different interpretation: It is Wright, and black theology in its entirety, that is misunderstood.
Again:
It is Wright, and black theology in its entirety, that is misunderstood.
This does not exonerate anyone from saying something stupid. However, in this case it is on point. The sermon in question was one of indignation over injustices. It was kind of a reflection on karma if you will:
"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.
Black theology is, as Cornel West puts it, about justice, justice, justice, and love, love, love. Wright's message should have been broadcast in the days after 9/11 as people focused so much on rising from the ashes, that they failed to address the question of why it was that so many people in the world hate Americans. Maybe it would have given us pause in the confusion to ask the question: Do they have a right to hate us? The Rev. Wright's answer was indeed they do, and we ought to look at ourselves as a people in the mirror to see the log that obfuscates our vision from recognizing injustice and the misdeeds of our own nation in living up to the standards of justice not only in the world, but to our own people. As they say in the black church, that'll preach. Come on now prophet!
Yet Hagee and Parsley in the McCain camp continue to spread biblical lies about the Second Coming and material wealth as a symbol of grace. It is the opposite message of Wright. An apostate message that is being welcomed with open arms and ignored by the media by comparison (enjoy his end times map too).
What a crock and a double-standard. Do we "still" have a race problem in the US? Yes we do. And our politics and the media are doing a fantastic job of enhancing the problem rather than helping to fix it.
This is continued fallout from Bush's disgusting connection between supporting his policies and being patriotic. The with us or against us mentality has now made The Rev. Wright a cultural demon and most people will feed off of that in their blind stupors of ignorance. But that is OK for The Rev. Wright. Prophetic messages are usually hated by the people to whom they are directed. If this were not true, Christ would have been welcomed rather than crucified. Be thankful in this season that God's grace will abound more.
Related posts:
