A significant amount of media coverage has focused on the religious beliefs of the Republican candidates for President (especially Romney’s and Huckabee’s). But Richard Cohen turns the spotlight on Democrat Barack Obama’s church in a column in the Washington Post. Here’s the heart of it:
“Barack Obama is a member of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ. Its minister, and Obama’s spiritual adviser, is the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. In 1982, the church launched Trumpet Newsmagazine; Wright’s daughters serve as publisher and executive editor. Every year, the magazine makes awards in various categories. Last year, it gave the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award to a man it said “truly epitomized greatness.” That man is Louis Farrakhan.
“Maybe for Wright and some others, Farrakhan “epitomized greatness.” For most Americans, though, Farrakhan epitomizes racism, particularly in the form of anti-Semitism. Over the years, he has compiled an awesome record of offensive statements, even denigrating the Holocaust by falsely attributing it to Jewish cooperation with Hitler — “They helped him get the Third Reich on the road.” His history is a rancid stew of lies. . .
“The rap on Obama is that he is a fog of a man. We know little about him, and, for all my admiration of him, I wonder about his mettle. The New York Times recently reported on Obama’s penchant while serving in the Illinois legislature for merely voting “present” when faced with some tough issues. Farrakhan, in a strictly political sense, may be a tough issue for him. This time, though, “present” will not do.“
Here’s the rest: “Obama’s Farrakhan Test” – by Richard Cohen (Washington Post).
8 Comments
Matt Privett
Frankly I’m surprised to see the New York Times and Washington Post even bring this up. This is the sort of thing they usually look the other way on and leave to sites like Drudge or WorldNetDaily.
Curious Jack
The question is Denny – Why would Wright’s family give this award to Farrakhan when Obama was running for POTUS? Sounds to me like Wright was setting Obama up, either to give him a Sister Souljah moment (and increase Wright’s own street cred with the hardcore nutters in the AA commnuity) or he was a crab pulling the other crab down because Wright’s huge ego can’t stand for Obama to overshadow him as much as he had.
Bryan L
I found this article in Christian Century about Obama’s church that spoke a lot about Wright. Give it a read. I was surprised by some of the things I discovered about it and him.
http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=3392
Blessings,
Bryan L
Kyle Roberts
Thanks for the link to that article Bryan. Here’s a good quote from it:
“Wright’s critics completely ignore America’s history of racism as well as the impact of the civil rights movement and the struggles of the black church to communicate the gospel’s relevance in the black community. Perhaps, as one blogger suggests, the attacks on Wright and Trinity are not even “meant to stand up to scrutiny.” They are merely designed to tie Obama to images of “the black bogeyman.”
Hmmm…sounds a lot like the “tenuous connection” suggested by this post. Tenuous indeed, and not even really a “connection.”
Kyle
rafe
I like Obama, he’s cool looking.
Bryan L
What are you talking about Brett? You have to ask Denny (email or something).
BTW does anyone look at the picture of Obama and immediately hear “stop in the name of love” in your head?
Or is that just me?
Quixote
Just some thoughts…
Senator Barack Obama is very charismatic and could have real shot at winning the nomination and the election. Momentum seems to be in his favor. There has been much made about his elementary schooling in a Muslim school in Jakarta Indonesia. He has consistently denied that he is Muslim and that he supports Muslim ideologies. I am actually more concerned with what he does say about himself:
He is an active member of the United Church of Christ. The doctrines of the church are as follows:
They run a Lesbian, Gay and Transgender outreach program; they actively support hate crimes legislation which would stop pastors from speaking against homosexuality; Obama supports open homosexuality in the military. Below is a description of a resolution the church passed in 2005 as well as statement from last summer from Obama which state his views.
The resolution “In support of equal marriage rights for all”, supported by an estimated 80% of the 884 General Synod Delegates, made the United Church of Christ General Synod the first major Christian deliberative body in the U.S. to make a statement of support for “equal marriage rights for all people, regardless of gender,” and is hitherto the largest Christian denominational entity in the U.S. supporting equal marriage rights.â€
June 04, 2007
Obama Statement on Pride Month
U.S. Senator Barack Obama today released the following statement to commemorate Pride Month.
“Pride Month is a reminder that while we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do.”
“Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It’s about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect.”
“It’s time to turn the page on the bitterness and bigotry that fill so much of today’s LGBT rights debate. The rights of all Americans should be protected — whether it’s at work or anyplace else. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” needs to be repealed because patriotism and a sense of duty should be the key tests for military service, not sexual orientation. Civil unions should give gay couples full rights. And those who commit hate crimes should be punished no matter whether those crimes are committed on account of race, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation.”
“This Pride Month, let’s make our founding promise of equality a reality for every American.”
He is a strong supporter of abortion availability and for abortions to be paid for by federal tax dollars.
He supports a National Health Plan which is basically a form of universal socialized medicine.
He plans on increasing taxes and thinks that wealthy Americans should pay a higher proportion of their income to redistribute wealth to those in poverty.
He plans on repealing all of the tax cuts from the past ten years.
Paul
where’s the rolling eyes smiley when you need it?