All Comments (14)

Yes, I vociferously agree! Any pulpit not allowed freedom to address ills in society, many Christian circles would refer to them as sins or wickedness or at the very least the havoc resulting from that wickedness, is not a pulpit at all. It's merely a stage that justifies, ignores or avoids the reality in which we all exist. If that reality oppresses some unjustly, while it liberates others, it is immoral, anti-Christian and anti-Constitution. Even when all other platforms remain silent, the pulpit should sound an alarm!

I was delighted to read Garland C. Taylor's response to the Jeremiah Wright "controversy." Although I am caucasian and ordained as a Congregationalist, I have been very familiar with Black preaching styles since my time in the Movement during the 60s and in a way I can say my own homeletics have grown out of the National Baptist conference. I lived in New York and Brooklyn for some 47 years; I am now down south in Mississippi, and am preparing an article on this very subject for a local newspaper here, to be published in a couple of weeks, since I am just finishing up a series of articles on the arts and the theater here in this small town of New Albany. The article is called "Listening with the Third Ear" and is basically an admonishment to those who have taken offense to begin to learn to LISTEN before they come out with half-baked opinions. Thank you, Garland C. Taylor. No wonder Charlie Rose called you one of the great preachers of the mid-20th century.

I, Johnnie William Skinner, Sr., concur with my pastor, Dr. Gardner Taylor completely. Dr. Jeremiah Wright is a man of God and a friend. He had every right to say what he said from the pulpit in which he preached for 36 years, and I support his right to have said what he did. What he said was taken out of context.
The media is using Dr. Jeremiah Wright to get at United States Senator Barack Obama.
Preach on Dr. Jeremiah Wright, preach on in the power of the Holy Spirit. Only the Truth will set us free.

Remember, the MONKS-ARMY is a real Army!

.S
.H
.A
.M
.E.!

Are A-M-E-R-i-C-A-N-S are getting Dumber?

Do not Give ANY Monk nor Buddhist(s) Exile 'Status' here aka "Political Asylum" etc..!

The un-Holy Dali Lamma

Buddhist Mafiaos's & his Global MONKS-ARMY!

The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright land transaction at www.webofdeception.com

Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright land transaction from his Jeremiah Wright Trust to Trinity Church.
Land is at: (Odyssey Country Club)

Kenneth Lewis sells the land to Wright and then Wright sells it to the church.A
ten million dollar mortgage and 8.2% interest rate .

Oh! And I have been thinking that a preacher's job is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not to vomit forth political opinion?? How wrong I have been. I must go and kneel down on the altar of Liberal Progressivism and beg forgiveness.

Dear Rev. Taylor,

"Is everyone entitled to freedom of worship?"

It is not really a question of being entitled to freedom of worship, or speech. Rev. Wright had every right to say what he did. But the extreme snippets that were played sounded remarkably like hatred in tone, timbre, and tenor. Did he get too close to the consuming fire? It looks like he did sometimes.

No doubt he said better things on better days, but if you hate in the name of Jesus Christ, you must ask yourself: Who it is who you really follow?

There are many aspects to this complicated case, and here are two:

Theoretical and Practical

Theoretically, it is clearly possible for a Preacher to be beyond the moral pale and deserve the condemnation of society AND his parishioners.

You have to decide whether Rev Wright is Wrong on this dimension.

Practically, there is little doubt tht Mr Taylor is Emphatically Correct in saying that the duty of a Preacher is to speak Truth to Power, not toady up to power. This is surely what Jesus did, and it got him crucified.

The sins of Racism are of an immense scale. Doesn't mean we whites have to be paralysed with guilt about the sins of our fathers, but it means we have a moral duty to come to grips with them.

The SINS of our country in going to WAR without threat are similarly heinous, and a reflection of our sorry history of insensitivity to those parts of the world that are MUCH poorer and less powerful than we are. The arrogance and ignorance of the Bush administration in waging this war is a Sin, if you believe in God, and if you believe in a God who punishes Sin, it is surely a Sin that such a God would punish (damn) America for.

So, the nerve of Rev Wright to speak to truth. To power, nonetheless.

Such hypocrisy from Blacks. If a white preacher had reversed the sermon, millions would be going to get him fired faster than you can say Imus.

Conflicts are two party events. The race conflict is no exception. What we have here is slavery thrown into the conflict. Why?

Only the Japanese have no history of being enslaved by someone. Stalin wanted to take Japanese slaves at the end of WW2 and we know he did enslave his Japanese and German POWs.

Slavery is not limited to black folks. Maybe fretting about having ancestors that were slaves is a profession for too many black people. Black people are no more entitled to anything based upon having ancestors that were slaves than any other group of people for we are all the children of former slaves, (maybe not the Japanese).

So Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr creates conflict based upon what is at best a "white" lie. The ignorant listen are are "moved." There's zero chance anything good will come of it. Therefore the candidate should need not respond at all. It's like the "N" word and should be canceled.

Silly question. Shouldn't black people insist on a national day of thanksgiving to early American slavers for their being here? I'm sure there are plenty of folks that would be happy to buy any black, or white for that matter a one way ticket to anywhere else. Wouldn't Jesus tell black people to count their blessings and that being here in the USA the biggest blessing of them all, if Jesus was here?

That preacher isn't just living off the fat of the Jesus land and looking for a little extra is he? He's retiring? Slaves don't retire do they? Maybe the best thing to do is ignore all preachers even the purple ones covered in pink pocadots. That would end free lunch? Yeah, that's what it's all about, free lunch.

It's refreshing to hear from a Baptist who still remembers the traditional Baptist respect for religious freedom. It's easy to forget nowadays that there ARE, for Baptists, alternatives to the fascist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention.

What counts is not religious beliefs per se, but what the candidate is likely to do with presidential powers.

While Obama's pastor may indeed have expressed some moderately racist views, and be hanging on to a gloomy memory of how race relations used to be, I do not get the sense that Obama would make any attempt whatsoever to bring any such racism into the White House or inflict it on America.

As far as I can tell, Obama understands where his pastor is coming from, but *himself* would prefer to bring a positive solution to the nation rather than a divisive solution.

The candidates on the Right, those who bring religion into their views, have *plainly* stated their intentions to do harm to Americans that they dislike. They have clearly stated their intentions to pack the federal judiciary with corrupt judges who will not uphold the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

They have made their malice plain for all to see, and made it clear that their malice will find an effective outlet in their positions of power.

Like I said, what matters is what the candidate will do in office. If religion is their incitement for malice in office, then religion becomes an issue. But if it does not appear likely to lead to makice, then it shouldn't matter.

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