Jeremiah Wright: Difference between revisions

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	* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAYe7MT5BxM - Jeremiah Wright speech on YouTube
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Revision as of 21:40, 14 March 2008

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Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. (born September 22 1941) is a former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC), an African-American megachurch in Chicago until he retired on February 10 2008 after 36 years of service as the Senior Pastor of that congregation. He has published four books and numerous articles.

Other work

Wright has written 4 books: What Makes You So Strong? (1993), Africans Who Shaped Our Faith (1995), Good News!: Sermons of Hope for Today's Families (1995), and What Can Happen When We Pray (2002). Wright is featured on Wynton Marsalis' album "The Majesty of the Blues" where he recites a spoken word piece written by Stanley Crouch entitled "Premature Autopsies".

Relationship with Barack Obama

The title of Senator and Presidential candidate Barack Obama's book The Audacity of Hope was taken from a sermon written by Wright. It was under Wright's influence that Obama became a practising Christian: Obama first met Wright and joined his church while he was working as a community organizer prior to attending Harvard Law School. Wright married Michelle and Barack Obama, and baptised their daughters. Obama's connection to Wright first drew attention in a February 2007 Rolling Stone article which described a speech in which Wright forcefully spoke about racism against African-Americans. Citing the article and fears that any further controversy would harm the church, Obama scrapped plans of having Wright introduce him at his Presidential announcement. Obama has often said that he and Rev. Wright sometimes disagree.

Controversy

During the course of the 2008 campaign, Wright's beliefs and past remarks have become closely scrutinized. Conservative critics have accused Wright's Black liberation theology of promoting black separatism. Wright has rejected this notion by saying that "The African-centered point of view does not assume superiority, nor does it assume separatism. It assumes Africans speaking for themselves as subjects in history, not objects in history."

Some of Wrights most controversial remarks include the statement, "The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color." He also said that Americans are "selfish, self-centered egotists who are arrogant and ignorant,". America is also said to have, "put Nelson Mandela in prison", to "believe in white supremacy", and to have, "supported Zionism shamelessly."

During the course of the 2008 presidential campaign, Wright has also attracted controversy for his association with Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam. Wright travelled to Libya with Farrakhan in the 1980s. In 2007, Wright addressed this by saying "When enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli to visit Colonel Gadaffi with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell." In 2007, Trumpet Magazine (published and edited by Wright's daughter) presented the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award to Farrakhan, whom it said "truly epitomized greatness." Wright is quoted in the magazine offering praise of Farrakhan "as one of the 20th and 21st century giants of the African American religious experience" and also praised Farrakhan's "integrity and honesty." Obama, on the other hand, has both denounced Farrakhan and rejected Farrakhan's endorsement.

In addition, Wright has said that Zionism has an element of "white racism" (for its part, the Anti-Defamation League says it has no evidence of any anti-Semitism by Mr. Wright) and that the attacks on 9/11 were a consequence of violent American policies and proved that "people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just 'disappeared' as the Great White West went on its merry way of ignoring Black concerns."

After Wright's retirement, copies of his sermons were offered for sale. News organizations like ABC News bought them and searched them for more controversial material. The ABC News Blotter website, edited by reporter Brian Ross, found "repeated denunciations of the U.S. based on what he described as his reading of the Gospels and the treatment of black Americans." In addition to providing his comments after 9/11 that had been previously publicized, the site also quoted Wright as saying "The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people"

Obama's response

When asked to respond, Obama noted that he disagreed with Wright's comments and stated "Here is what happens when you just cherry-pick statements from a guy who had a 40-year career as a pastor. There are times when people say things that are just wrong. But I think it's important to judge me on what I've said in the past and what I believe."

On March 14, 2008, Obama wrote an article for the Huffington Post website entitled "On My Faith and My Church" in which he said the following:

Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.

Notes

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