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Jeremiah Wright

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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.

Background

Wright was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Jeremiah Wright, Sr, was a Baptist minister. In 1959, Wright entered Virginia Union University, a historically black seminary, but became disenchanted and left in 1961 to join the US Navy. Wright then enrolled at Howard University where he received a bachelor's degree in 1968 and a Master’s degree in English in 1969. In 1975, Wright earned an additional Master’s degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He received a Doctor of Ministry Degree from United Theological Seminary in 1990 (where he studied under Samuel DeWitt Proctor). Wright also has seven honorary doctorate degrees. He has lectured at many seminaries and universities in the nation.

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 blacks. 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."

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

  1. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-wright_11feb11,1,4431179.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
  2. REV. JEREMIAH WRIGHT: Pastor inspires Obama's 'audacity' - chicagotribune.com
  3. Jeremiah A Wright Jr
  4. Rev. Jeremiah Wright: Pastor inspires Obama's 'audacity'
  5. Campaign '08: The Radical Roots of Barack Obama : Rolling Stone
  6. Disinvitation by Obama Is Criticized - New York Times
  9. Fox News Transcript
  10. Richard Cohen - Obama's Farrakhan Test - washingtonpost.com
  11. Dirt begins to fly at Obama - Times Online
  12. Obama takes heat over Farrakhan link :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Barack Obama
  13. http://www.trumpetmag.com/pdf/nov_dec_feature.pdf
  15. A Candidate, His Minister and the Search for Faith - New York Times
  16. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4443788&page=1
  17. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_557231.html
  18. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barack-obama/on-my-faith-and-my-church_b_91623.html

18. The Reverend's political affiliations

External links

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