Religion and Obama

The uproar over the content of Barack Obama's pastor's sermons is in full cry with Obama's campaign distracted big time.  Is the Clinton campaign loving it?  Most assuredly.  All of this coming right on the heels of Geraldine Ferraro's remarks last week cannot be just coincidence.

The thing is, being in attendance at a church service where anti American/anti-Christian/unscriptural words are spoken does not necessarily mean a parishioner buys into them.  If Obama had only been an occasional or one time worshiper, a good case could be made that he was an innocent bystander.  But for someone who was a member for 20 years, you'd have to think he buys into or bought into, some of it.

On the other hand, this pastor may not have been this strident until lately, we've only seen a couple of his sermons broadcast on the news.  If it turns out the reverend Wilson has been speaking like this for a long time, then...someone has some explaining to do.

When someone joins and participates in a church, they can rightly be said to believe and confess the tenents of that church.  Otherwise, why stay?   

Comments

[Ron]

Democratic voters will have buyers remorse, if Obama gains the nomination. How could anyone not strongly condemn the words spoken by Rev. Wright. Obama seems to avoid doing this for some reason. It says volumns about him and his core beliefs.

[Rand Conley]

"I vehemently disagree, strongly condemn." and "I reject them completely. They are not ones that reflect my values or my ideals or Michelle's. And that, had I heard them, had I been sitting in the church at the time that they were spoken, I would have been absolutely clear to Reverend Wright that I didn't find those acceptable." Quotes taken from a Fox News interview. What more do you want him to say? Also, Wright is on sabbatical from Trinity and is retiring. He is not and will not be an active part of Trinity UCofC.

I'm also curious, how much autonomy to congregations have within a given denomination? As far as I remember St. John's is a well respected congregation in Collinsville. I was baptized there (confirmed at Faith Chapel). Is Trinity to be condemned because of the preaching of it's pastor or can congregates be members there because of the denomination and not follow everything the pastor says?

[Ron]

Why didn't Obama condemn these remarks earlier? They have been out htere for years. He didn't know the sermons were spoken, until just last week?! Hard to believe that. I would say most weekly attendees at church would hear about this inflamatory sermon the next week or during the week, if they missed that one week or weeks.
Unfortunately, Obama says in his book and many of his values come from his 20 years of attending the church and from Pastor Wright. Do they or don't they?
Did he get his values from the church and his Pastor?
Any white politician would have been subject to the same criticism, if not stronger, had similar racist inflamatory comments about blacks been made by a white Pastor. The major press would have picked up the story much earlier, rather than the story being flushed out by talk radio and blogs.

[norman Teigen]

I've felt that the outrage expressed at Obama's pastor's words has been overstated. As a WSML (white southern Minnesota Lutheran) I know that a black preacher from Chicago does not express himself as my pastor does. I read in Salon today that Obama needed to link himself to a larger cause to help him rise in public esteem. He did so and of course he joined that particular church for convenience and not conviction. Obama is an opportunistic politician without really understanding how his background might be perceived. The appeal of the black church is emotional and not revolutionary and the emotion can be seen as unpatriotic by whites and as conventional by blacks. It seems that Obama wanted to develop his bona fides as a black man to further his political career.

Norman Teigen
ELS layman

[Ron]

Although Obama's speech is not without its evasions, I consider it a courageous one by usual political standards. He has refused to walk away from Wright's black liberation theology when it might well have been expedient to do so. The rest of us now should have the courage to take Obama at his word and decide whether it is acceptable to elect as president of the United States someone who carries Rev. Wright around as part of him, and who takes his ranting seriously.

From the folks at Powerline blog

[diane]

We listened to the speech on the way to the airport today and except for getting off track once when he talked about something I can't recall at the moment, I thought it was a good speech. My initial thought was that it should do him some good, although looking at the news commentary on tv just now I see everyone emphasizing a poll taken before the speech.