All Comments (45)

Wake up Susan,The politics of America does not evolve around what Washington thinks.
Get on the road and talk to fly over country and you will get a different point of view.Using the excuse that the past dictates my future is bunk.
To all the victims " Get off your butts and make it happen for you"
Bob.

Eloquently Said.

You have shed a spiritual light on this situation which always makes things better. Thankyou for empathizing with another experience and point of view. Understanding the love of God and others is the answer...

Hamilton Crosby:

Amen, and thank you. I am brown and Jewish, go to a small synagogue (only occasionally, since I'm not that observant), where one-third of the congregation is African American.

Hamilton Crosby:

Amen, and thank you. I am brown and Jewish, go to a small synagogue (only occasionally, since I'm not that observant), where one-third of the congregation is African American.

Hamilton Crosby:

Amen, and thank you. I am brown and Jewish, go to a small synagogue (only occasionally), where one-third of the population is African American.

Wouldn't it be nice if this controversy could be dismissed because backward white people can't get over African garb. That's insulting and racist. The controversy here is obviously all about the offensive content of Rev. Wright's speech. The author cites no evidence for her "form" assertion. "It has become evident..." should require some...um...evidence.

Not bloody likely in a religion blog I guess.

You refer to the "African American Church" as if all blacks belonged to a "different" kind of church than whites. Since when do blacks all have a different church? Is there a Chinese Church, or Hispanic church? or, do they get to attend the White church? Part of the cause of the divide is the perception that races worship "their" own God. There is only one. All blacks dont belong to the same church. Maybe they just go to church in a black neighborhood. Some are actually Catholics, Mormons, and Jews. Do you consider them to be black whitechurch-goers? Or, do they just "think" like whitefolks? Become an American, where eveyone has a right to chose their place of worship.

Well said!!! Somebody ought to say AMEN!

Does it ever occur to anyone else that the Message that Jesus brought to this earth is what is important?

Take care, be ready.

Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.

However grievous the suffering there is no excuse for telling lies from the pulpit, Susan. And frankly the suffering of African-Americans, grievous though it is, is nothing compared to Africans still in Africa.

Ummm. I can respect how something is said, but that doesn't mean I have to respect what is said.

Please explain "G*d Damm America",
"White America US of KKK A",
"HIV invented to kill people of color."

Bishop T.D. Jakes "prosperity gospel" preaching is NOT a type of African-American preaching. It is a type of preaching that takes advantage of people by telling them things like, "since God moved me tonight to preach on chapter 7 verse 23, the only way you will have blessings from God is if you come up here right now with your offering of seven hundred and twenty-three dollars." I heard this right from the preacher's mouth in person. There's nothing inherently Biblical nor African-American about that type of "preaching"!

I am an African-American who identifies spiritually with T.D. Jakes, who disavows the prosperity preacher label, more than Jeremiah Wright. That said it is good to remember that, in general, whites do not know the thinking of African-Americans because history does not encourage a candid exchange between the races. I have had many of the the feelings expressed by Pastor Wright during my 61 years of life. Whites should not be shocked that many of us would have have such feelings. Just imagine yourself in our shoes and what your reactions would be. The miracle in American history is that the last 50-60 years have been relatively peaceful compared with similar situations in other parts of the world. For example, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Irish-English conflict, the Balkins and others. We are still a basically united country and most African-Americans do not want to destroy America but share and participate more fully in its benefits and prosperity.

I am always amazed when religious dialogue becomes the subject of scrutiny and irreverant discussion by the media and other secular organizations. Not that sermons and religious conversations are not open to fair observations, it just doesn't sit well that run of the mill secularism portends itself as the vehicle for qualified discourse about "things that are spiritually discerned". The Bible, nor the church and its teachings need to be validated by some news organization's journalistic interview. God's Word is sovereign. It cannot not be altered, merely misconstrued. The media, which is political by nature, will always view religion within their own philosophical perspective. We must be on guard whenever we see, read, or hear sound bites taken out of context of the intended message and applied selectively. If the church polices its self then we can continue to stand on the principle of Let God Be True and Every man...

Your column is an absurd response which supports hate.

While you are talking about "respect" tell us all clearly what "respect" Wright has for the those outside the so called "Black Church". It seems clear to me that Wright's church is built on hate,not love. Despite your supposed education you can't understand that can you.

While you are talking about "respect" tell us all clearly what "respect" Wright has for the those outside the so called "Black Church". It seems clear to me that Wright's church is built on hate,not love. In so=[pite of you supposed education you can't understand that can you.

Your entire article is an ignorant rant against the religious, not for it. Do you suppoese an intelligent white person is welcome in this church. As usual Dear Sally and your column c fail to distinguish betwen politics and religion or anything else. Wright is one of those who Muriel Spark speaks of when she says: "Nothing infuriates people more than their own lack of spiritual insight".

Considering the flaws, errors, stench and muck aka the "fems" of all religions, Haynes, Wright, their fellow preachers and also priests, imams, clerics and rabbis will be receiving their pink slips soon thereby there will be no more "pulpitfying" from these "mumbo jumboers" and we can get on with the political debate free at last from religion.

It would be far better for any preacher to be led by the Holy Ghost rather than to follow scripted texts, theological pro forma, or cultural tradition.

Without the Holy Spirit, all is babble.

Fantastic article! We must learn to embrace our differences without demeaning and demonizing expressions of spiritual doctrine we are not familiar with. Rev. Thistlethwaite hit it right on the nose!

The problem for Rev. Wright is retirement. He needs to keep himself occupied and allow Obama to run his campaign.

Wright isn't running for president, and although the media will take any opportunity to shift attention away from the candidates' positions, that doesn't mean the rest of us must follow obediently along.

A public discussion on race, etc., would be fine, and I would have no problem with Wright's being included.

In the interim, less please, about the Obama-Wright connection, Clinton's wardrobe and body, etc., more on the relevant issues, not those of their spouses, "spiritual guides," etc.

Life for the black man in these United States has not been this generous for a long time. The Africa American community endured some of the most brutal treatment in recent history at the hands of their white countrymen. They endured 246 years of brutal and cruel slavery and 100 years of racism and segregation. Forty years after the civil rights movement success, the black population still suffers from poverty, illiteracy, and covert racism.

Rev. Wright sees first hand his disfranchised community’s problems and ills while his country is involved in financing huge amounts of money in wars and aggression oversees. He knows that this kind of money can be better spent taking care of the needy and the poor in this country. He served in Vietnam for six years and knows first hand how his country is not that righteous and has blood of innocent people on its hands.

We may not agree on Rev. Wright’s over the edge remarks but I believe he earned his right to speak his peace.

All I hear from his critics is his comments about AIDS and how the government is involved in it. I know that’s far fetched and downright wrong. But why comment on this particular instance exclusively. Why not focus on the other more important problems he talked about. His criticism is leveled against the government in general and white people specifically. White people only recently have they been this peaceful and tolerant towards black people; and want either to sweep their shameful history under the rug or deny and crucify anyone who dares to speak of the pain and suffering they endured for so long.

Because of events that happened not long ago, most of the black community in this country distrust the government and see it as indifferent at best and cruel at worst. Not a lot of Americans know about the Tuskegee experiment and the cruelty of the people involved in it as is evident from this report:

“For forty years between 1932 and 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) conducted an experiment on 399 black men in the late stages of syphilis. These men, for the most part illiterate sharecroppers from one of the poorest counties in Alabama, were never told what disease they were suffering from or of its seriousness. Informed that they were being treated for “bad blood,”

The Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, began the study in 1932. Nearly 400 poor black men with syphilis from Macon County, Ala., were enrolled in the study. They were never told they had syphilis, nor were they ever treated for it. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the men were told they were being treated for "bad blood," a local term used to describe several illnesses, including syphilis, anemia and fatigue.

For participating in the study, the men were given free medical exams, free meals and free burial insurance.

At the start of the study, there was no proven treatment for syphilis. But even after penicillin became a standard cure for the disease in 1947, the medicine was withheld from the men. The Tuskegee scientists wanted to continue to study how the disease spreads and kills. The experiment lasted four decades, until public health workers leaked the story to the media. By then, dozens of the men had died, and many wives and children had been infected.”

Rev. Wright's comments about the HIV plot illustrates the difference between religious and scientific thought. Science requires evidence; religion claims faith (meaning belief without evidence) should supersede evidence-based knowledge. So a factually groundless claim about government conspiracies is turned into something that doesn't need to be true, as long as it fits the believers' life-views.

Unfortunately, thinking like Rev. Wright's is all too common among African-Americans. Obviously, that community needs improved educational opportunities. But their belief-based epistemology is going to require undoing.

John Donne,
Anne Donne,
Undone."
April 28, 2008 12:53 PM

GOOD

We in Denmark cannot figure out why you are even bothering to hold an election in the United States.

On one side you have a bi-ch who is a lawyer and married to a lawyer opposing a lawyer who is married to a bi-ch who is also a lawyer.

On the other side you have a true war hero who is married to a beautiful woman with a huge chest who owns a beer distributorship.

Is there really a contest here??

I have to regretfully agree with most entries on this thread.

I personally attend a church where all races sit together in harmony, as well as my children play games with each other in the same respect. It has been that way for the 38 years I have attended this church.

This nation cannot elect a person who is associated with such a divisive 'pastor'...and there is nothing at all 'reverend' about him, whatsoever. There is good reason that scripture tells us not to refer to any man as 'father' (in a religious sense) or refer to them as 'reverend'...it does not work with human beings.

I'm guessing that your article should be pointed towards black Americans, not white Americans. Is it not Rev. White who said the comments in question? And lets remember to keep this in the context of the race for the nomination - where is Hillary's racist pastor? Obama has his, Hillary does not - Hillary 1, Obama 0 in this round.

And I whole heartedly agree with one of the comments above - an attack on Rev. White's vile remarks is not an attack on the his congregation. Politics is tricky and no amount of sweet talking or elitist overture is going to change the way Washington spins.

Mr. Wright's racist remarks are anything but acceptable. He should be rejected by America as nothing more than a spokesman of racism and should be utterly rejected by Christianity as nothing but a hate-monger.
Patrick@OnlyJesusSaves.com

Wright is divisive, splitting people literally into black & white categories. He makes ignorant (i.e. unknowing) statements about Europeans, italians (who he calls "garlic-nosed", and even "Negroes" (those people of color who don't want to vote for Barack). He is sexist and uncouth: youtube the words "ridin' dirty", and displays his uncouth behavior IN CHURCH! He owes both Clintons and Monica Lewinsky a public apology! He owed Hillary an apology for his pro-bama, anti-Hillary "was never a poor black man" tirade, in which he completely ignores the sexism EVERY woman (including Hillary) faces in her life while lying about Obama's past (Obi was never a "poor black man"). I don't care about him trying to "clean up his image" now: His ego is always in the forefront and he unnecessarily spreads racial hatred or, at the very least, resentment.

One can only wonder why Obama appointed Rev. Wright to his official presidential campaign religious advisory committee AFTER KNOWING ABOUT WRIGHT'S INCITEFUL COMMENTS?

Why - if Wright is so "wonderful" - did he "retire"? Doesn't that show how afraid he is of his sermons being taped and made public? What a coward. Wait until the election is over: Wright will be right back behind the pulpit (or strolling through the White House, depending on who wins!)

Wright is divisive, splitting people literally into black & white categories. He makes ignorant (i.e. unknowing) statements about Europeans, italians (who he calls "garlic-nosed", and even "Negroes" (those people of color who don't want to vote for Barack). He is sexist and uncouth: youtube the words "ridin' dirty", and displays his uncouth behavior IN CHURCH! He owes both Clintons and Monica Lewinsky a public apology! He owed Hillary an apology for his pro-bama, anti-Hillary "was never a poor black man" tirade, in which he completely ignores the sexism EVERY woman (including Hillary) faces in her life while lying about Obama's past (Obi was never a "poor black man"). I don't care about him trying to "clean up his image" now: His ego is always in the forefront and he unnecessarily spreads racial hatred or, at the very least, resentment.

One can only wonder why Obama appointed Rev. Wright to his official presidential campaign religious advisory committee AFTER KNOWING ABOUT WRIGHT'S INCITEFUL COMMENTS?

Why - if Wright is so "wonderful" - did he "retire"? Doesn't that show how afraid he is of his sermons being taped and made public? What a coward. Wait until the election is over: Wright will be right back behind the pulpit (or strolling through the White House, depending on who wins!)

The person who wrote this article is the real problem. Her view is that a majority of Americans are racist. She is wrong. Her elitist view dovetails nicely with the elitism of Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama. Elitism isn't about money, it's about arrogance and this commentary is steeped in it. Yes, Black America suffered. Suffering doesn't give you the right to condemn other races and those who happen to love their country. If suffering allowed you to hate let's round up terminally ill individuals and give them the national stage to out their ill will towards others. I got a hunch most of them are grateful to be alive in the greatest country in the world.

Yet another example of the religious demanding respect simply because they are religious. I don't believe in giving automatic respect to people because they claim to believe in things they cannot prove, and I certainly don't believe that being religious insulates anyone from criticism. But apparently if I point out that Wright believes HIV is a genocidal conspiracy, then according to him I'm attacking the black church and its members. Hiding behind the word "faith", flinging accusations of racism, all to silence anyone who dares to contradict the sacrosanct realm of the faithful, at the expense of our national discourse and the Obama campaign, as well.

And now, a guilty defense of the indefensible by a masicistic white seminarian. "Respect Wright. He's black. He's religious. QED."

Quite pathetic.

Yet another example of the religious demanding respect simply because they are religious. I don't believe in giving automatic respect to people because they claim to believe in things they cannot prove, and I certainly don't believe that being religious insulates anyone from criticism. But apparently if I point out that Wright believes HIV is a genocidal conspiracy, then according to him I'm attacking the black church and its members. Hiding behind the word "faith", flinging accusations of racism, all to silence anyone who dares to contradict the sacrosanct realm of the faithful, at the expense of our national discourse and the Obama campaign, as well.

And now, a guilty defense of the indefensible by a masicistic white seminarian. "Respect Wright. He's black. He's religious. QED."

Quite pathetic.

Respecting a style of preaching has nothing to do with accepting ridiculous or outrageous statements. Rev. Wright could have said the same things with a "white man's style" and it would still be wrong and should have been disavowed rapidly.

Why should I respect the racist, divisive, hateful commentary of Wright? His statements are so clear; it's so funny that the clearer his comments, the greater the number of explanations from liberals as to what he really meant. Where are Wright's sermons decrying the disintegration over the past 50 years of black culture? 70% of black children born out of wedlock to uneducated young women; the fathers also young and uneducated, with too many ending up in prison. Who is to support these children, teach them values and virtues, such as the value of an education and all the opportunities that exist for the educated. Who is to teach them about family, marriage, sacrifice ,discipline, love. Where are Wright's sermons condemning this irresponsible destructive behavior, and where is his call for a reformation of black culture? Every Sunday Wright should be pounding home this message. Instead, we are given his marxist black liberation drivel. I have no respect for him.

Respecting a style of preaching has nothing to do with accepting ridiculous or outrageous statements. Rev. Wright could have said the same things with a "white man's style" and it would still be wrong and should have been disavowed rapidly.

There is nothing praiseworthy about the Blind leading the Blind. Ignorance and superstition rule.

Get real!!! Theology is not getting on your pulpit and damming the United States of America. Nor is it blaming White America for spreading AIDS to the Black Community. Preach about God and Christian beliefs and leave the political bull for the politicians. I cannot believe Churches preaching such hatred should be allowed to have a tax exemption status. Let's wise up people!

It is fun to watch tghe Libscums dance around the pin of Rev. Wright. Too bad, y'all weren't willing to dance around that pin for Don Imus. Guess I consider both of them and you racists!

I learned a lot about the black church last night and I learned a lot about Revereand Wright. I am a white, senior, catholic and I was touched by this preacher. The media did a very good job of painting this man as an evil hating america black man, unpatriotic, and disloyal to his country. I found the complete opposite. He hit the nail on the head, being different does not mean you are deficient. We as white people need to learn this lesson and understand what others have gone through. This man has a differnet approach to preaching that what I see in my church, but his message was the same. God loves all of us, we are all different, but none of us are deficient.

'I have spoken to many white Americans regarding this controversy and it has become evident to me that while many are shocked by the language of judgment on America, it is the form of the sermon presentation that is more upsetting.'

Quite frankly I don't see why anyone should be shocked. Are whites really so naive as to believe that the comments made by Rev Wright hold no truth at all. There's an innate inability in this country to accept truth if it is deemed unpatriotic, but no matter how ugly or painful, the truth is still the truth and perhaps it would help to acknowledge it, much in the way that South Africa held it's truth and reconciliation tribunals.

'I have spoken to many white Americans regarding this controversy and it has become evident to me that while many are shocked by the language of judgment on America, it is the form of the sermon presentation that is more upsetting.'

Quite frankly I don't see why anyone should be shocked. Are whites really so naive as to believe that the comments made by Rev Wright hold no truth at all. There's an innate inability in this country to accept truth if it is deemed unpatriotic, but no matter how ugly or painful, the truth is still the truth and perhaps it would help to acknowledge it, much in the way that South Africa held it's truth and reconciliation tribunals.

Never having been a member of his congregation, I confine my focus to poetry, which, I now believe should be a "talking point" in every political campaign.

For those of the poetic persuasion, click on "the panel," and go to Susan Jacoby's last thread. And thanks to all who posted more poems there.

Perspective, do you know Yeats's "Lapis Lazuli"? I posted it. Note the influence.

Farnaz

Never having been a member of his congregation, I confine my focus to poetry, which, I now believe should be a "talking point" in every political campaign.

For those of the poetic persuasion, click on "the panel," and go to Susan Jacoby's last thread. And thanks to all who posted more poems there.

Perspective, do you know Yeats's "Lapis Lazuli"? I posted it. Note the influence.

Farnaz