It obviously can’t be conducted in the midst of a political campaign, nor should it necessarily be led by politicians—but it needs to happen soon. So it can be said, at least, that Wright has started us thinking about these things.

I for one have read his remarks with an eye to whether they reflect a biblical view and whether they advance racial reconciliation. On both counts they fall woefully short. Paul, writing in the New Testament, said, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ.

If there’s one overriding message of the Gospel, it is that we are to be one, together in our love for God and in our love for one another. I have seen countless, amazing examples over 32 years: God reconciling Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, criminals and their victims in prisons, and blacks and whites in our churches. When we reach out to one another in genuine forgiveness and love, reconciliation can be genuinely achieved. Pastor Wright’s message tragically is one that does exactly the opposite. It is an appeal for black separatism, and is an angry diatribe against the white majority in America. It could never be the basis for the kind of reconciliation that is contained in the Gospel.

I don’t see how any one who genuinely seeks racial reconciliation, who believes in the fundamental principles of the Declaration of Independence, can not repudiate and totally disavow not only the content of Wright’s sermons, but also his preaching style. What we need is a revival of the kind of preaching that Martin Luther King did, an appeal to transcendent standards of justice and a transcendent law, the kind that broke down centuries-old divisions. Wright’s sermons bear no resemblance to Dr. King’s.