« 63% of Americans still think Iraq war a mistake. | Main | Obama rises from political obscurity to verge of history. »

With all the hub-bub about how the Reverend Wright's "Paster-Disaster" will impact the Obama campaign, there is an interesting article over at The New Republic's website which shines some light on Obama's relationship with the the outspoken Wright:

But more than that, Wright's church, Trinity, and its less doctrinal approach to the Bible intrigued and attracted Obama. "Faith to him is how he sees the human condition," Wright said. "Faith to him is not . . . litmus test, mouth-spouting, quoting Scripture. It's what you do with your life, how you live your life. That's far more important than beating someone over the head with Scripture that says women shouldn't wear pants or if you drink, you're going to hell. That's just not who Barack is."

Wright's ministry was indeed an activist one which espoused views anathema to most of the other black ministries in Chicago:

Wright remains a maverick among Chicago's vast assortment of black preachers. He will question Scripture when he feels it forsakes common sense; he is an ardent foe of mandatory school prayer; and he is a staunch advocate for homosexual rights, which is almost unheard-of among African-American ministers. Gay and lesbian couples, with hands clasped, can be spotted in Trinity's pews each Sunday. Even if some blacks consider Wright's church serving only the bourgeois set, his ministry attracts a broad cross section of Chicago's black community. Obama first noticed the church because Wright had placed a "Free Africa" sign out front to protest continuing apartheid.

Essentially, Wright is a highly educated intellectual who could engage the Columbia-educated Obama. Says Wright,

"But here I was, able to stay with him lockstep as we moved from topic to topic. . . . He felt comfortable asking me questions that were postmodern, post-Enlightenment and that college-educated and graduate school-trained people wrestle with when it comes to the faith. We talked about race and politics. I was not threatened by those questions."

It makes perfect sense, especially after the past few days, where Wright came across as smart, intellectual, funny...and extremely provocative. Although some of his views probably represent less than 5% of the population, you can't deny his smarts. And essentially his comment that our militaristic foreign policy was bound to experience blow-back mirrors what Dr. Martin Luther King expounded upon in his 1968 speech on Vietnam when he said that the most violent country he knows is his own U.S. of A.

Obama had to disown him, that's for sure, but mostly because Wright was accusing him of being just another politician. Barack's entire campaign is based on an honest desire to bring about profound change in this country, that his is an unusual story, and that we can trust him at his word. We'll see what the country thinks of this...

Name (required)
Email
Website
Remember personal info? Yes   No
Comments

home | music | democracy | earth | money | projects | about | contact

Site design by Matthew Fries | © 2003-23 Consilience Productions. All Rights Reserved.
Consilience Productions, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
All contributions are fully tax deductible.