Democrashield.com

Some controversy has been brewing over statements made by Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where Barack Obama is a parishoner.

In order to cut this off at the pass, Obama has written a column at The Huffington Post explaining his feelings on this:

The pastor of my church, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who recently preached his last sermon and is in the process of retiring, has touched off a firestorm over the last few days. He’s drawn attention as the result of some inflammatory and appalling remarks he made about our country, our politics, and my political opponents.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.

Because these particular statements by Rev. Wright are so contrary to my own life and beliefs, a number of people have legitimately raised questions about the nature of my relationship with Rev. Wright and my membership in the church. Let me therefore provide some context.

As I have written about in my books, I first joined Trinity United Church of Christ nearly twenty years ago. I knew Rev. Wright as someone who served this nation with honor as a United States Marine, as a respected biblical scholar, and as someone who taught or lectured at seminaries across the country, from Union Theological Seminary to the University of Chicago. He also led a diverse congregation that was and still is a pillar of the South Side and the entire city of Chicago. It’s a congregation that does not merely preach social justice but acts it out each day, through ministries ranging from housing the homeless to reaching out to those with HIV/AIDS.

Most importantly, Rev. Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life. In other words, he has never been my political advisor; he’s been my pastor. And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn.

The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments. But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church.

Let me repeat what I’ve said earlier. All of the statements that have been the subject of controversy are ones that I vehemently condemn. They in no way reflect my attitudes and directly contradict my profound love for this country.

With Rev. Wright’s retirement and the ascension of my new pastor, Rev. Otis Moss, III, Michelle and I look forward to continuing a relationship with a church that has done so much good. And while Rev. Wright’s statements have pained and angered me, I believe that Americans will judge me not on the basis of what someone else said, but on the basis of who I am and what I believe in; on my values, judgment and experience to be President of the United States.

The entire ’scandal’ is nonsense. The fact that the pastor at Obama’s church said some controversial things has no impact on Obama’s ability to be President.  Nobody’s required to agree with everything their pastor says–if your pastor says something you disagree with, you just acknowledge that you have a difference of opinion and move on. It’s not a big deal.

This phony ’scandal’ reeks of desperation–Obama’s opponents don’t have anything legitimate to throw at him, so they pull together nonsense ’scandals’ like this and try to tar him with it.

In the end, though, none of these manufactured scandals change the fact that Barack Obama has the skills and the judgment to be the next President of the United States.

UPDATE: Scout Finch at Daily Kos brings up two good points:

We have now seen more sermons from Barack Obama’s minister in 48 hours than we ever did of Mike Huckabee —- and Mike Huckabee was a presidential candidate for 14 long months. Why is it acceptable to scour every last sermon given by Wright, but only weeks ago we weren’t allowed to see or read Mike Huckabee’s sermons?  In fact, not only was it totally ignored by the traditional media, but the few times the question of Huckabee’s sermons was raised, it was brushed aside as inappropriate.

Why the hypocrisy? After all, Mike Huckabee was an evangelical Southern Baptist minister who’s entire campaign was based on the fact that he was the Christian candidate. Are we to believe that he didn’t rail against the US government over abortion in previous sermons? Or homosexuality?  We know what he had to say about AIDS victims.

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As several commenters have pointed out, whenever the subject of Mitt Romney’s religion came up – it was portrayed as essentially un-American to even whisper about Romney’s Mormonism.  I agree that it has no place in politics, but let’s make sure this is going both ways.