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Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. (born September 22 1941) is a former pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC), a largely African-American megachurch in Chicago, Illinois with 10,000 members. In early 2008, Wright retired after 36 years as the senior pastor of his congregation. Following retirement, Wright's beliefs and manner of preaching were scrutinized by the media when segments from his sermons were publicized in connection with presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Personal life

Jeremiah Wright (second from right), in 1966, as a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman. He is tending to President Lyndon Johnson, for which he was commended (see letter superimposed on photo).

Wright was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents are Jeremiah Wright, Sr., a Baptist minister who pastored Grace Baptist Church in Germantown from 1938 to 1980, and Mary Henderson Wright. His wife is Ramah Reed Wright, and he has four daughters, Janet Marie Moore, Jeri Lynne Wright, Nikol D. Reed and Jamila Nandi Wright, and one son, Nathan D. Reed.

Education and military service

From 1959 to 1961, Wright attended Virginia Union University, an historically black school in Richmond. He then joined the United States Marine Corps and served in the 2nd Marine Division with the rank of private first class. He subsequently transferred to the United States Navy and entered the Corpsman School at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, where he graduated as valedictorian in 1963. He was trained as cardiopulmonary technician at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland and graduated as salutatorian in 1967.

Wright then enrolled at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he received a bachelor's degree in 1968 and a master’s degree in English in 1969. He also earned a master's degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School. Wright holds a Doctor of Ministry degree (1990) from the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, where he studied under Samuel DeWitt Proctor.

Career as minister and honors

Jeremiah Wright (center left), in 1998, greeting President Bill Clinton during a prayer breakfast at the White House.

Wright became pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ on March 1, 1972, at a time when its membership was only 87 members. In March 2008, Trinity United Church of Christ is the largest church in the mostly white United Church of Christ. The President and General Minister of the United Church of Christ, John H. Thomas, has stated: “It is critical that all of us express our gratitude and support to this remarkable congregation, to Jeremiah A. Wright for his leadership over 36 years.” Thomas, who is a member of the Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ in Cleveland, has also preachedand worshipped at Trinity United Church of Christ (most recently on March 2, 2008).

Wright, who began the "Ministers in Training" ("M.I.T.") program at Trinity United Church of Christ, has been a national leader in promoting theological education and the preparation of seminarians for the African-American church. Wright has stated that black liberation theology, particularly the works of James Hal Cone, formed the basis for his church's religious and political philosophies.

Wright has been a professor at Chicago Theological Seminary, Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary and other educational institutions. Wright has served on the Board of Trustees of Virginia Union University, Chicago Theological Seminary and City Colleges of Chicago. He has also served on the Board Directors of Evangelical Health Systems, the Black Theology Project, the Center for New Horizons and the Malcom X School of Nursing, and on boards and committees of many other religious and civic organizations.

Wright has received a Rockefeller Fellowship and seven honorary doctorate degrees, including from Colgate University, Valparaiso University, United Theological Seminary and Chicago Theological Seminary. Wright has also received three presidential commendations from President Lyndon B. Johnson and was named one of Ebony magazine's top fifteen preachers.

Relationship with Barack Obama

Barack Obama, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President, first met Wright and joined his church in the 1980s, while he was working as a community organizer in Chicago before attending Harvard Law School. Obama and his wife, Michelle, were later married by Wright, and both their children were baptized by him. The title of Obama's memoir, The Audacity of Hope, was inspired by one of Wright's sermons and he credits Wright with strengthening his faith.

The public invocation before Obama's presidential announcement was scheduled to be given by Wright, but Obama withdrew the invitation the night before the event. Wright wrote a rebuttal letter to the editor disputing the characterization of the account as reported in The New York Times article.

In late 2007, Wright was appointed to Barack Obama's African American Religious Leadership Committee, a group of over 170 national black religious leaders who supported Obama's bid for the Democratic nomination; however, it was announced in March 2008 that Wright was no longer serving as a member of this group.

Controversy

Sermon clips

During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Wright's beliefs and previous remarks became heavily scrutinized, due to his relationship with Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama. Critics have accused Wright of using Black liberation theology to promote black separatism. Wright has tempered 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."

Martin E. Marty explained Wright's view by focusing on his church. Marty stated, "For Trinity, being 'unashamedly black' does not mean being 'anti-white.' Think of the concept of 'unashamedly': tucked into it is the word 'shame.' Wright and his fellow leaders have diagnosed 'shame, 'being shamed,' and 'being ashamed' as debilitating legacies of slavery and segregation in society and church." Marty also asserted that Trinity's "members and pastor are, in their own term, 'Africentric' , and that this should not be more offensive than that synagogues should be 'Judeo-centric' or that Chicago's Irish parishes be 'Celtic-centric'." Marty went on to criticize the "incomprehension and naiveté of some reporters who lack background in the civil rights and African-American movements of several decades ago" - what he saw as evident in the reporting regarding Wright and his views.

In another sermon eventually published by the press, Wright ended his message with a blessing on all people, saying "All of God's children white, black, red, yellow, male, female, all together".

An article in Time magazine noted, "Much of white America is unfamiliar with the milieu of the black church. When clips from Wright's sermons began circulating, many whites heard divisive, angry, unpatriotic pronouncements on race, class and country. Many blacks, on the other hand, heard something more familiar: righteous anger about oppression and deliberate hyperbole in laying blame, which are common in sermons delivered in black churches every Sunday.

Comments After September 11

In March 2008, ABC News broadcast sound bites from a sermon that Wright gave shortly after September 11, 2001, in which Wright paraphrased Edward Peck, former U.S. Chief of Mission in Iraq, former deputy director of the White House Task Force on Terrorism under the Reagan Administration and former U.S. Ambassador to a number of countries, who was appearing on Fox News, as allegedly having said: "We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye...and now we are indignant, because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost." Wright went on to state: "Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred. And terrorism begets terrorism. A white ambassador said that y’all, not a black militant. Not a reverend who preaches about racism. An ambassador whose eyes are wide open and who is trying to get us to wake up and move away from this dangerous precipice upon which we are now poised. The ambassador said the people that we have wounded don’t have the military capability we have. But they do have individuals who are willing to die and take thousands with them. And we need to come to grips with that."

Comments on U.S. Government

Sound bites from a sermon that Wright gave in 2003, entitled “Confusing God and Government”, were also shown on ABC's Good Morning America and Fox News, in which Wright made statements about God and the U.S. Government. In the sermon, Wright first makes the distinction between God and governments, and points out that many governments in the past have failed: "Where governments lie, God does not lie. Where governments change, God does not change." Wright then states: "And the United States of America government, when it came to treating her citizens of Indian descent fairly, she failed. She put them on reservations. When it came to treating her citizens of Japanese descent fairly, she failed. She put them in internment prison camps. When it came to treating her citizens of African descent fairly, America failed. She put them in chains, the government put them on slave quarters, put them on auction blocks, put them in cotton field, put them in inferior schools, put them in substandard housing, put them in scientific experiments, put them in the lowest paying jobs, put them outside the equal protection of the law, kept them out of their racist bastions of higher education and locked them into positions of hopelessness and helplessness." Wright concludes by stating:" The government gives them drugs , built bigger prisons, passes a three strike law, and then wants us to sing God bless America. No, no, no, not God bless America, God damn America, that's in the Bible, for killing innocent people. God damn America, for treating her citizens as less than human. God damn America, as long as she pretends to act like she is God, and she is supreme. The United States government has failed the vast majority of her citizens of African descent."

Comments on HIV

Also in "Confusing God and Government," Wright makes a statement in which he espouses his views on the involvement of the United States government with the Tuskegee experiment and the invention and propagation of the HIV virus. This statement was also widely aired in March 2008 on Fox News and YouTube. Wright states: “The government lied about the Tuskegee experiment. They purposely infected African American men with syphilis. Governments lie. The government lied about bombing Cambodia and Richard Nixon stood in front of the camera, ‘Let me make myself perfectly clear…’ Governments lie. The government lied about the drugs for arms Contra scheme orchestrated by Oliver North, and then the government pardoned all the perpetrators so they could get better jobs in the government. Governments lie.” Wright went on to state: “The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. Governments lie. The government lied about a connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein and a connection between 9.11.01 and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Governments lie.”

Trip to Libya

A gaffe of Wright's has been quoted in the media: "When enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli to visit Muammar al-Gaddafi with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell." The 1984 trip Wright was referring to was when he traveled to Libya and Syria on a peace mission along with an ecumenical body of ministers. Chaired by Rev. M. William Howard and led on the ground by Rev. Jesse Jackson who brought about a dozen other ministers including Minister Louis Farrakhan, the trip resulted in the freeing of United States Navy pilot Lt. Robert Goodman, who was captured after his fighter jet had been shot down over Lebanon. At a January 4, 1984 White House ceremony welcoming Lt. Goodman home, U.S. President Ronald Reagan stated, "Reverend Jackson's mission was a personal mission of mercy, and he has earned our gratitude and our admiration." Wright has stated that his participation in the trip implied no endorsement of either Louis Farrakhan’s views or Gaddafi’s.

Responses

Wright was portrayed in the media as a racist and anti-American. Many have come out in his defense, others to reiterate their opinions of the negative statements made by Wright.

Wright's church has criticized the media for recent coverage of his past controversial sermons, saying in a statement that Wright's "character is being assassinated in the public sphere.... It is an indictment on Dr. Wright’s ministerial legacy to present his global ministry within a 15- or 30-second sound bite."

Ben Wallace-Wells, writing for Rolling Stone magazine, quoted one of Wright's sermons with disapproval: "Wright takes the pulpit here one Sunday and solemnly, sonorously declares that he will recite ten essential facts about the United States. "Fact number one: We've got more black men in prison than there are in college," he intones. "Fact number two: Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run!" There is thumping applause; Wright has a cadence and power that make Obama sound like John Kerry. Now the reverend begins to preach. "We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns and the training of professional KILLERS. . . . We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God. . . . We conducted radiation experiments on our own people. . . . We care nothing about human life if the ends justify the means!" The crowd whoops and amens as Wright builds to his climax: "And. And. And! GAWD! Has GOT! To be SICK! OF THIS SH*T!""."

In addition, Dean Snyder, the senior minister of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington D.C., the church attended by the Clintons while they were in the White House, released a statement defending Wright and decrying his treatment in the press that said in part, "He has served for decades as a profound voice for justice and inclusion in our society. He has been a vocal critic of the racism, sexism and homophobia which still tarnish the American dream. To evaluate his dynamic ministry on the basis of two or three sound bites does a grave injustice to Dr. Wright, the members of his congregation, and the African-American church which has been the spiritual refuge of a people that has suffered from discrimination, disadvantage, and violence."

Barack Obama said to Charles Gibson of ABC News, "It's as if we took the five dumbest things that I've ever said or you've ever said in our lives and compressed them and put them out there - I think that people's reaction would, understandably, be upset." At the same time, Obama stated that "words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialog, 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." Obama additionally stated, "Had the reverend not retired, and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying at the church."

Works

  • Wright, Jeremiah A. Jr. and Jini Kilgore Ross, What Makes You So Strong?: Sermons of Joy and Strength from Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., Judson Press, November 1993, ISBN 978-0817011987
  • Wright, Jeremiah A. Jr. and Colleen Birchett, Africans Who Shaped Our Faith (Student Guide), Urban Ministries, Inc., May 1995, ISBN 978-0940955295
  • Wright, Jeremiah A. Jr. and Jini Kilgore Ross, Good News!: Sermons of Hope for Today's Families, Judson Press, December 1995, ISBN 978-0817012366
  • William J. Key, Robert Johnson Smith, Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. and Robert Johnson-Smith, From One Brother to Another: Voices of African American Men, Judson Press, October 1996, ISBN 978-0817012502
  • Jawanza Kunjufu and Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr., Adam! Where Are You?: Why Most Black Men Don't Go to Church, African American Images, June 1997, ISBN 978-0913543436 (also African American Images, 1994, ISBN B000T6LXPQ)
  • Frank Madison Reid, III, Jeremiah Wright Jr. and Colleen Birchett, When Black Men Stand Up for God: Reflections on the Million Man March, African American Images, December 1997, ISBN 978-0913543481
  • Wright, Jeremiah A. Jr., What Can Happen When We Pray: A Daily Devotional, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, June 2002, ISBN 978-0806634067
  • Wright, Jeremiah A. Jr., From One Brother To Another, Volume 2: Voices of African American Men , Judson Press, January 2003, ISBN 978-0817013622
  • Iva E. Carruthers (Editor), Frederick D. Haynes III (Editor), Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. (Editor), Blow the Trumpet in Zion!: Global Vision and Action for the 21st Century Black Church, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, January 2005, ISBN 978-0800637125
  • Ernest R. Flores and Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Tempted to Leave the Cross: Renewing the Call to Discipleship, Judson Press, November 2007, ISBN 978-0817015244

Wright has written several books and is featured on Wynton Marsalis's album The Majesty of the Blues, where he recites a spoken word piece written by Stanley Crouch.

Notes

  1. ^ Pastor Trinity United Church of Christ
  2. Ramirez, Margaret (2008-02-11). "Barack Obama spiritual mentor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., preaches last sermon at Trinity United Church of Christ". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-03-22. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. Banks, Adelle (2008-03-22). "Obama Finds Pulpit in Center of Racial Divide". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-03-22. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. Gabrielle Brochard and John DeVecchi (2006). "Biographical Essays". Retrieved 2008-03-25.
  5. ^ "Dr. Jeremiah A Wright Jr". Corinthian Baptist Church. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
  6. Gorski, Eric (2008-03-18). "Message of Obama Pastor Forged in Civil Rights Movement". Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Retrieved 2008-03-27. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Guess, J. Bennet (2008-03-14). "Chicago's Trinity UCC Is "Great Gift to Wider Church Family". United Church of Christ. Retrieved 2008-03-27. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  8. "White People Welcome at Trinity United Church of Christ". YouTube. Retrieved 2008-03-27. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. "Donor Profiles". The Fund for Theological Education. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  10. Talev, Margaret (2008-03-20). "Obama's church pushes controversial doctrines". The McClatchy Company. Retrieved 2008-03-28. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. "Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Biography". The History Makers. 2002-01-11. Retrieved 2008-03-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ Brachear, Manya (January 21, 2007). "Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.: Pastor inspires Obama's 'audacity'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-03-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ Barack Obama (2008-03-18). "Text of Obama's speech: A More Perfect Union". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. Kantor, Jodi (2008-03-6). "Disinvitation by Obama Is Criticized". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. Wright, Jeremiah (2008-03-11). "Letter to The New York Times (pdf)" (PDF). Trinity United Church of Christ - Bulletin. Retrieved 2008-03-23. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. "Renowned Faith Leaders Come Together to Support Obama". Democracy in Action. 2007-12-04. Retrieved 2008-03-24. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. Smith, Ben (2008-03-14). "Wright leaves Obama campaign". The Politico. Retrieved 2008-03-24. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ Kantor, Jodi (2007-04-30). "A Candidate, His Minister and the Search for Faith". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-24. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. "Obama's Pastor: Rev. Jeremiah Wright". Hannity & Colmes. Fox News. 2007-03-02. Retrieved 2008-03-24. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  20. Marty, Martin E. "Prophet and Pastor". The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11 April 2008. Available online. Archived.
  21. Marty, Martin E. "Keeping the Faith at Trinity United Church of Christ". Sightings Available online. Archived.
  22. Wright giving total praise to a god of diversity
  23. Obama's spiritual mentor, Baltimore Sun
  24. James Carney, Amy Sullivan. "Why Obama Has a Pastor Problem." Time, 3/31/2008, Vol. 171, Issue 13.
  25. ^ Martin, Roland (March 21, 2008). "The full story behind Rev. Jeremiah Wright's 9/11 sermon". Anderson Cooper 360. CNN. Retrieved 2008-03-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  26. Kurtz continues to cover Wright comments while giving short shrift to Hagee, Parsley comments Media Matters for America, 2008-03-25
  27. ^ Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11 Brian Ross and Rehab el-Buri, ABC News, March 13, 2008
  28. Extended video of Wright's sermon from which quotes had been excerpted.Wright said:"I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday. Did anybody else see him or hear him? He was on Fox News. This is a white man, and he was upsetting the Fox News commentators to no end. He pointed out--did you see him, John?--a white man, he pointed out, an ambassador..."
  29. ^ "Tell the Whole Story FOX! Barack Obama's pastor Wright". Excerpted from YouTube. Wright states: "The Roman government failed...the British government failed. The Russian government failed. The Japanese government failed. The German government failed.". Retrieved 2008-03-25.
  30. "Obama was never Rev. Wright's Amen Charlie". Free Lance-Star, 28 March 2008. Available online. Archived.
  31. "Obama Decries Pastor's Remarks". Seattle Times. March 15, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  32. ^ Martin, Roland (March 21, 2008). "The Full Story Behind Wright's "God Damn America" sermon". Anderson Cooper 360. CNN. Retrieved 2008-03-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  33. Dirt begins to fly at Obama London Sunday Times, January 13, 2008
  34. "JACKSON COUP AND '84 RACE". New York Times (Subscription required to access full article). January 4, 1984. Retrieved 2008-03-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  35. Stone, Eddie (1988). Jesse Jackson. California: Holloway House Publishing. pp. 197–202. ISBN 0-87067-840-X.
  36. Stanley, Alessandra (January 16, 1984). "An Officer and a Gentleman Comes Home". Time Magazine. Retrieved 2008-03-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  37. Stone, Eddie (1988). Jesse Jackson. California: Holloway House Publishing. pp. 197–202. ISBN 0-87067-840-X.
  38. Reagan, Ronald (January 4, 1984). "Remarks to Reporters Following a Meeting With Navy Lieutenant Robert O. Goodman, Jr". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved 2008-03-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  39. Trapper, Jake. "Obama's Church Blames Media". Political Punch (ABC News), 24 March 2008. Available online. Archived.
  40. Wallace-Wells, Ben. "Destiny's Child". Rolling Stone, 22 February 2008. Available online.
  41. Stein, Sam, "Pastor Of Clinton's Former Church: Don't Use Wright To Polarize". Huffington Post, 25 March 2008. Available online. Archived.
  42. Snyder, Dean. "A Statement Concerning the Rev. Jeremiah Wright". Foundry United Methodist Church. Available online. Archived.
  43. "ABC's Charles Gibson Talks to Barack Obama". ABC News. 28 March 2008.
  44. Obama, Barack, "On my Faith and My Church". Huffington Post, 14 March 2008. Available online. Archived.
  45. "Obama Would Have Left if Wright Stayed". Associated Press, 28 March 2008. Avialable online. Archived.
  46. The Majesty Of The Blues - Track list

External links

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