Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. is the former Pastor Emeritus of the Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC), a mega church in Chicago with around 10,000 members. In early 2008, Wright retired after 36 years as the Senior Pastor of his congregation and no longer has daily responsibilities at the church. Following retirement, Wright's beliefs and manner of preaching were scrutinized when short segments from his sermons were publicized in connection with presidential campaign of Barack Obama.
Rev. Wright and Obama first met when he joined his church in the 1980's, while he was working as a community organizer in Chicago before attending Harvard Law School. Wright officiated at the wedding ceremony of Barack and Michelle Obama, as well as their children's baptism. The title of Obama's memoir, "The Audacity of Hope", was inspired by one of Wright's sermons.
Wright was scheduled to give the public invocation before Obama's presidential announcement, but Obama withdrew the invitation the night before the event. In 2007 Wright was appointed to Barack Obama's African American Religious Leadership Committee, a group of over 170 national black religious leaders who supported Obama's bid for the Democratic nomination, however, it was announced in March 2008 that Wright was no longer serving as a member of this group.
In March 2008, a controversy broke out concerning Obama's long-term (over 20 years) relationship with Wright, his former pastor. ABC News found several racially and politically charged sermons by Wright. Some of Wrights statements, such as when he said, "God Damn America", were widely interpreted as being unpatriotic and deeply offensive.
In response to political pressure Barack Obama delivered a speech titled "A More Perfect Union" in the course of the contest for the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination. Speaking before an audience at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, PA on March 18 of that year, Obama was responding to a spike in the attention paid to controversial remarks made by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor and, until shortly before the speech, a participant in his campaign. In this speech Obama said,
"...we've heard my former pastor...use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike. "I have already condemned, in unequivocal term, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy."
Obama stated that like other black churches, Trinity contained the full spectrum of the black community: "the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America." Similarly, he argued that Wright "contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years." Therefore, Obama continued in his speech:
"I can no more disown him [Rev. Wright] than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe. These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love."
"If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me," Rev. Right said with a shrug, "I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen." - Rev. Jeremiah Wright, New York Times, April 30, 2007. Sources: YouTube, Wikipedia, ABC News
I've done a lot of research as you can see, and of course haven't put down everything that I found. Just search on google "obama jeremiah wright" and start your own research. Remember that Obama has been part of this church and Rev. Wright's past for almost two decades and just suddenly due to heightened media attention and political controversy he distances himself and ultimately disowning him, when he said he couldn't! If this issue didn't come out in the open I dare to believe and say that Obama would still be a member of Wright's church, he still be on the leadership board, and still seek his counsel. Heck, he probably still seeks his counsel. Why would Obama agree with Wright about having to publicly distancing himself from him if Obama already didn't know about and hear for himself the racial and controversial sermons given?! Why haven't we heard more about this on the news?
Because the mainstream media hasn't done it's job. After Obama denounced Rev. Wright and left the church that was good enough for them...the media. Obama said he wasn't at church when these controversial sermons were given. Why hasn't the media investigated when he was at church and what sermons where given? Why haven't they scrutinized this more fully? After being a member of his church for 20 years don't tell me Barack Obama never heard any controversial sermons. Why would you stay with a church you disagree with?
I am a religious man and my entire life revolves around my religion and faith. I believe in the doctrine taught, and in truth, may not fully understand some of it, but I don't disagree with it. It allows me to ponders, study, and ask the Lord Almightly to help me understand until I receive a testimony for myself that it is in line with what He wants and desires of me to know and believe. If there was anything in my church like what happens in Obama's church I would have left it long before politics forced me to disown Rev. Wright and the church.
Everything that Barack Obama has done is for political gain. He'll say and do anything to advance his political career and the mainstream media is buying it. In the words of Sean Hannity, "in 2008 journalism has failed...it's dead in America."
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