Jeremiah Wright is quite obviously wrong on many fronts. He’s no doubt got his facts wrong about the AIDS virus, and I can’t agree that Farrakhan has been a voice for justice – far from it. Further, I’m deeply troubled whenever he speaks of the “black church.” Suffice to say, I find much of what I’ve heard from him appalling.
However, I don’t think he has set back black-white relations in this country. Anyone who thinks racism isn’t still deeply embedded in us, in our hearts and in our systems, is a knave or a fool. More importantly, I don’t believe that Wright is wrong to criticize American policies in the name of God. Unfortunately, he’s spouted more nonsense than sense, as far as I’ve heard. Nonetheless, the fact remains: the U.S. does stand guilty of gross atrocities and it is the calling of the church to speak truth to power concerning such matters.
I’m not interested in wading through Wright’s claims point by point. I do want, however, to pose this thought experiment: What if Wright were white? What if he were a right-wing conservative activist? What if, instead of calling God’s judgment down on American foreign policy, he called God’s judgement down on the Supreme Court for the Roe v. Wade decision? Or for removing prayer from schools? What if instead of praying God to damn America for racism, he had said God damn America for homosexuality, for abortion, for removing the Ten Commandments from the public square, for teaching evolution in public schools? What if instead of saying 9-11 was the “chickens coming home to roost” because of the bombings of Tokyo and Hiroshima, he had said Katrina was the divine recompense for the U.S.’s failure to support Israel against the Palestinians?
Pat Robertson, John Hagee, Jerry Falwell, among others, did say these things. And no one called them traitors, as I remember. Pat Robertson’s post 9-11 comments were controversial, to be sure, but McCain’s candidacy hasn’t been smeared by association with the televangelist. Ditto McCain’s association with John Hagee, who is a first-rate hate-monger if ever there was one.
Of course, there is this difference: whereas Wright damned the U. S. government, Robertson and Hagee damn only certain people within the government and the populace at large (namely, the “liberals” – especially the gays and the politicians and officials who support their agenda).
However, as Frank Schaeffer contends in this HuffingtonPost.com article, much white, conservative anti-Americanism gets labeled “prophetic” – even when it specifically and clearly calls for, or at least suggest the possible need for, an overthrow of the government!
Frank’s father, Francis, is considered by many to be the founder of the Religious Right. Hagee and Robertson and other televangelists like Rod Parsley and Perry Stone belong in this tradition, as do other prominent preachers such as the late D. James Kennedy and Jerry Falwell. These white conservative Christians seldom take the pulpit without decrying the wickedness of America, without talking about the abomination that is homosexuality or the immorality of the entertainment industry. How often have we heard them say God’s wrath burns against America because of abortion and other such atrocities? But they say all this from a stage on which stands an American flag, so who would dare to call them traitors.
In short, then, here’s my conclusion. If Jeremiah Wright were white, we wouldn’t know of him. He wouldn’t be getting time in the “liberal media” – at least not without buying time on stations like TBN or Daystar. And we wouldn’t be taking him seriously. I mean, do you take Pat Robertson seriously?
i agree with most of your post but not sure i agree with your conclusion that “If Jeremiah Wright were white, we wouldn’t know of him. He wouldn’t be getting time in the “liberal media” – at least not without buying time on stations like TBN or Daystar. And we wouldn’t be taking him seriously. I mean, do you take Pat Robertson seriously? ” because i think if one of the other candidates had been married by pat robertson, attended his church for 20 years and called him his mentor it would have been all over the news also.
Ceo,
But that is precisely my contention: We wouldn’t even know that Obama had attended Wright’s church for 20 years, etc. if Obama and Wright were white conservatives! Do we know who George Bush’s pastor is? Or John McCain’s?
no i do not think i agree. i do not think the coverage is so much because he is black or liberal but is because he is controversial and has/had a close relationship with a presidential candidate. if bush, mccain or clinton had a long time pastor/friend/mentor and the media found video clips of them making very controversial statements they would be all over tv also.
Let me say I don’t think the “liberal” aspect matters too much, either. I do think his being black factors very much. And the fact that his controversial statements bear on racial issues.
Another point: I do believe Wright himself sought out attention, which exacerbated the problem.
A question for you: why do you think it is that white conservatives of the like of Schaeffer, Hagee, Parsley, Robertson are not considered traitors?
“why do you think it is that white conservatives of the like of Schaeffer, Hagee, Parsley, Robertson are not considered traitors?”
i have seen much saying jw was a traitor but to answer you. Schaeffer was in a different time. parsley i do not think is really that well known. Robertson gets some press i do not think people take him very seriously. Hagee has and cause mccain some problem but i think another big reason they are not as big an issue is because none of them are close to the candidates. i agree there is a racial factor but i think its largely the media trying to create ratings.
I think you’re onto something. As the last post by ceo says, it is partially about ratings. However, I believe there is a racial slant on the media. No one cares about George Bush’s religious convictions, but it seems as if Obama might succeed against this slam. JW has a few issues, and I’m really not into the whole black church white church duality, not that there is no racism, but doing the equal opposite measure is inappropriate. His division from the rest of the culture is not appropriate, however, I am in favor of his critiques of the american government.