Priest who mocked Clinton told to take a leave

By SOPHIA TAREEN

CHICAGO (AP) — Cardinal Francis George asked a Chicago priest on Tuesday to temporarily step down from his post to "reflect on his recent statements" regarding Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her bid for the White House.

Last week, the Rev. Michael Pfleger mocked Clinton at Sen. Barack Obama's former church, saying the New York senator felt "entitled" to the Democratic nomination for president.

In a guest sermon at Trinity United Church of Christ, Pfleger pretended he was Clinton crying over "a black man stealing my show."

Pfleger's sermon, along with past controversial statements by Trinity's former longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, led Obama to resign his membership at Trinity. Pfleger apologized for his comments Sunday.

ARTICLE....

Obama quits Chicago church after long controversy

By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer

ABERDEEN, S.D. - Barack Obama has resigned his 20 year membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago in the aftermath of inflammatory remarks by his longtime pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and more recent fiery remarks at the church by another minister.

Obama campaign communications director Robert Gibbs said Obama had resigned from the church "over the last few days."

Campaign aides said they weren't immediately certain how the resignation took place, whether by letter or in some other fashion, and were trying to find out.

Messages left for a church spokeswoman in Chicago were not immediately returned Saturday afternoon.

The development came as Obama campaigned in South Dakota.

MORE....

Commentary: Like a Bad Penny, Obama’s Links to Rev. Wright Will Continue to Revisit Him in the Campaign

By: Joseph C. Phillips, BlackAmericaWeb.com

A brief recap of some of the highpoints from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright resurrection tour:

The former pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago reiterated his belief that America has been a terrorist nation from its inception, defended his damning of America, stood by his belief that the American government created the HIV virus and placed drugs in the black community in order to exterminate black people, then further derided the country as a place where "I can worship God on Sunday morning wearing a black clergy robe and kill others on Sunday evening wearing a white Klan robe." Finally, Wright dismissed the entire controversy over his words as an attack on the black church.

Just a guess, but I am betting he did himself no favors. I would add that rather than pen op-eds telling us all how ignorant we are because we don’t understand black liberation theology, the reverend’s supporters would do better to simply produce a tape where the former pastor is heard preaching something along the lines of “God bless this great and good country.”

The problem for Wright’s supporters and ultimately for presidential hopeful Barack Obama, a 20-year congregant of Trinity, is that there is no such tape because no such sermon was delivered. Rather, what was heard on video clips across the world wide web and then repeated in the speeches and interviews before the National Press Club and the NAACP is left to stand as representative of Wright’s views. The judgment of any candidate intimately associated with such views is a legitimate political issue and one that, like a bad penny, will continue to revisit Obama over and over again.

Considering the number of “good liberals” that essentially agree with the spirit, if not the substance, of Wright’s words and have rushed to his defense, it is also one that should haunt the Democratic Party as well.

A few questions to Wright and those that subscribe to a view of America as “Ameri-KKK-A” are in order. Let us concede that everything you say about America is true: America is a terrorist nation, the government has indeed sought to destroy black people through the introduction of man-made race-specific diseases and addictive, soul-destroying drugs, and racism is running rampant throughout the nation. Given the abject evil of the American government, why do you look to that same government to provide you with health care, retirement benefits and an education for your children? Wouldn’t it make more sense to support policies that limit such a government’s involvement and power over its citizens?

The solutions proffered by the party Wright supports to each and every issue confronting Americans is an expanse of federal involvement. Both Obama and Hillary Clinton support government regulated health care; both have rejected personal ownership of retirement accounts and instead endorsed an expansion of the social security tax. Both Democratic candidates have expressed support of further government regulation of the insurance, oil and pharmaceutical companies. Both want federal funding of a universal pre-school program. If we can’t trust government not to clandestinely plan for the annihilation of the black race, why on earth would we send our toddlers to federally financed (and ultimately run) pre-schools?

Or is it that the election of Barack Obama to the presidency would restore moral legitimacy to this nation’s institutions and traditions and put us on track to reconciliation and redemption? And if that is the case wouldn’t it be better for you to, well, -- to put it bluntly -- sit down and shut up?

To this last question, Wright answers that he is defending the honor of the black church. Ain’t nobody gonna talk about his mama! With all do respect, the reverend neither speaks for the black church nor do I believe his scurrilous and idiotic theories speak for the majority of black church-goers. His continued allocutions do, however, raise his national profile and increase his speaking fees.

Were Wright a black separatist or even a (gasp!) conservative with these convictions, it would make some sense, but to be a liberal Democrat preaching these theories makes him appear lunatic. A lunatic that, alas, will not go away.

The Rift Between Barack Obama, Rev. Wright Creates Divided Loyalties in Black Churches

By: Eric Gorski, AP Religion Writer

Sen. Barack Obama's break with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is putting black pastors and their congregations in a difficult position, their loyalties divided between a politician who could be the first black president and a celebrated preacher who many believe has been vilified.

The situation is complicated, ministers say, because there's a sense that both men have been treated unfairly -- and that both have made mistakes.

Many black ministers defended Wright when clips of his more incendiary sermons became an Internet sensation in March, saying context was needed to understand the black church's tradition of challenging injustice.

But Wright lost some of that support after his Monday appearance at the National Press Club in Washington, during which he claimed the U.S. government was capable of planting AIDS in the black community, praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and suggested that Obama was acting like a politician by putting his pastor at arm's length while privately agreeing with him.

The performance was enough for Obama to denounce Wright's comments as "divisive and destructive." That was just six weeks after he portrayed Wright, in a well-received speech on race, as a family member he couldn't disown.

"What I am disappointed in is Rev. Wright's continuing to be in the public eye," said Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, senior pastor of 6,500-member Greater Grace Temple in Detroit. "If he has a point to get across, make your point. We as ministers have to be very careful about our timing."

Another pastor in Detroit -- where Wright received a standing ovation Sunday at a dinner for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People -- directed his anger at the Democratic senator.

The Rev. William Revely, pastor of 300-member Holy Hope Heritage Church, questioned Obama's truthfulness in claiming he had not heard some of Wright's contentious remarks from the pulpit.

"Anybody who has heard Jeremiah preach has heard that," said Revely, who has known Wright since the 1970s. "Jeremiah, he's a pastor, and as a pastor you have to see things as they are. Politicians see things as they want them to be."

The punches and counter-punches thrown by Obama and Wright are leaving black churchgoers angry at both, said the Rev. Bennie Whiten, a retired United Church of Christ minister.

People want to embrace Obama's candidacy but worry about recent stumbles and wonder whether he fully understands racial divides still exist, Whiten said. They admire Wright but question his timing and tone.

"I think we've got two very good men, two very strong men, who find themselves in an almost impossible situation from which neither can extricate himself," said Whiten, who lives in Chicago and has worshipped as a visitor at Trinity United Church of Christ.

The Rev. Herbert H. Lusk II, a conservative black pastor at Greater Exodus Baptist Church in Philadelphia, expressed sympathy for Wright but said he relates more to Obama. He compared Obama's situation to his own, as a Republican pastor of an overwhelmingly Democratic congregation. His members get angry over his support for President Bush but remain because of family, friends and other ties, Lusk said.

Obama "doesn't appear to me to be hypocritical or disingenuous," Lusk said. "He's just another parishioner who struggles with what happens in his church, what the pastor says and all the other intangibles."

Wright's Press Club performance forced Obama's hand, said the Rev. Byron Williams, a pastor and columnist in Oakland, Calif. Here was a candidate who built a movement on the notion of America's better self, yet he was being defined by his pastor's rhetoric.

Wright is savvy enough to know that anything positive said about Farrakhan -- known for past anti-Semitic remarks -- will be portrayed negatively in a 24-hour news cycle, Williams said.

Yet Obama's public rejection of his pastor carries risk. In February 2007, Obama abruptly disinvited Wright from delivering the invocation at the kickoff of his presidential campaign. That move suggests Obama has long known Wright could be a liability and only disowned him when forced, Williams said.

"He is going to have to account for what is perceived as this air of disingenuousness," Williams said.

The Rev. Dwayne A. Walker also confessed to mixed emotions over the rift between Obama and Wright.

Walker, pastor of 1,000-member Little Rock AME Zion Church in Charlotte, N.C., said he admires both men. Yet he understands why Obama broke ties with the minister who helped lead Obama to Christianity, married him and baptized his children.

Walker said what angers him most is how Obama, unlike other presidential candidates, has been defined by what someone else has said rather than by his own words and record.

"Overall, I don't think Obama should be defined by his pastor, nor should Dr. Wright be defined by that moment," he said of the Press Club exchange. "It was a bad moment, and it came at a bad time."

As a pastor, Walker said he has another wish: That politician and pastor eventually reconcile.

Commentary: Does Wright Really Want Barack Obama to Win the Presidency? His Public Display Says No

By: Gregory Kane, BlackAmericaWeb.com

“Barack Obama will be president of the United States over my dead body.”

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright may as well just have said those words after the performance he put on at the National Press Club this past Monday.

Wright’s been on a speaking stump since last Friday, putting in appearances on public television and with the Detroit chapter of the NAACP. When Wright was all done, he had praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, repeated his assertion that the U.S. government created the virus that causes AIDS and dismissed Obama as a politician trying to get votes.

I caught most of Wright’s speech on You Tube, and I have to admit that there were things he said I agree with. At one point, he let loose with a corker directed at his critics who claim he’s unpatriotic.

“Our congregation has sent dozens of boys and girls to fight in the Vietnam War, the first Gulf War and the present two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq," Wright intoned. "My goddaughter’s unit just arrived in Iraq this week, while those who call me unpatriotic have used their positions of privilege to avoid military service, while sending over 4,000 American boys and girls of every race to die over a lie.”

Touche, Rev. Wright. Now, if you’re perspicacious enough to realize that, then you have the smarts to know that by dummying up, you’d have increased the chances of Americans electing a president who has promised to end the war over the lie. That candidate is Obama, who wants to bring American troops home as soon as possible if he’s elected.

There are only two other candidates who can win the presidency. One is the old fart who’s promised to keep American troops in Iraq for 100 years; the other is the woman who had her lips all but sutured to President Bush’s tush when he made the bogus case for war with Iraq.

Lest you get the impression that Obama’s my choice for president, I have to reiterate: I’ll be writing in Rep. Ron Paul’s name when I cast my ballot for the nation’s chief executive in November. But Obama’s supporters can’t be too pleased with Wright. Michael Baisden, who has a nationally syndicated radio show, hinted the day after Wright’s remarks that he’d wished the pastor had kept his mouth shut.

Wright, of course, didn’t see it that way. He repeated throughout his speech that he was speaking out because his critics weren’t attacking him, but attacking the black church.

Negro, puh-leeze. I was under the impression that the United Church of Christ, of which Wright is a member, was -- at least nationally -- a predominantly white body.

But even if Wright is correct, you have to be appalled at the guy’s megalomania. King Louis XIV of France was famous for the quote “L’etat, c’est moi,” which translated into English means “I am the state."

For Wright, the comparable phrase he in essence uttered is “L’eglise noire, c’est moi” -- “I am the black church.” But no, in the real world -- not the alternate universe of Wright’s own creation that he inhabits -- the black church is a lot bigger and certainly not monolithic. There must be thousands of black pastors at as many black churches throughout the country. The only one being criticized for his comments is Wright.

News flash for the reverend: That does NOT constitute an attack on the black church.

As much as Wright tried to portray himself as a minister who’s above politics and who’s compelled to preach in the “black prophetic” tradition, the fact is many of his comments at the NPC were political. He took the U.S. government to task for supporting apartheid in South Africa, and rightly so.

“Our congregation feeds over 5,000 homeless and needy families every year,” Wright said in his speech, “while our government cuts food stamps and spends billions fighting in an unjust war in Iraq.”

That’s a POLITICAL statement.

“Our congregation stood in solidarity with the peasants in El Salvador and Nicaragua,” Wright said, “while our government, through Ollie North and the Iran-Contra scandal, was supporting the Contras, who were killing the peasants and Miskito Indians in those two countries.”

That’s a POLITICAL statement.

Some might say it reflects a political position of the far left. And presidential candidates from the far left -- and those supported by the far left or even perceived to be associated with those from the far left -- tend not to get elected in this country.

I wonder if Wright will attend President McCain’s inauguration. I’m betting the reverend at least gets an invitation and a thank-you note.

Rev. Wright Has His Say, Speaking On the Black Church, His Sermons – and Barack Obama

By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com

Just as many critics and pundits who have attacked his remarks based on excerpts of a sermon have not listened to the entire sermon, neither has Sen. Barack Obama, who distanced himself from the remarks, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright said Monday.

Wright delivered a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. that was partly a brief tutorial on the prophetic tradition of the black church and an attempt to clarify remarks in his sermons that he said have been taken out of context.

Asked during a question-and-answer period after the speech why he waited nearly a month before responding to charges that he was bigoted, unpatriotic and inflammatory, Wright said he felt the need to speak out now because the characterization of his critics' remarks were less about him and more about a faulty definition of the black church.

“This is not an attack on Jeremiah Wright; this is an attack on the black church,” Wright said.

Television pundits suggested that Wright came off as flippant, even petulant at times, but Richard Prince, author of Journal-isms, a regular e-column about the journalism industry, said Wright found a receptive audience at the Press Club.

“I have to say that the sentiment in the room -- black clergy, divinity school types, bishops, etc. -- was entirely in Wright's favor,” Prince told BlackAmericaWeb.com in an e-mail interview. “As he said, he does not see himself in relation to Obama's campaign. He will be a pastor on Nov. 5 and Jan. 21 and has his own reputation to protect and own work to do, he said. He saw himself as speaking for the black church, not for Obama.”

There were a number of non-journalists in the room, including clergy and such notables as Cornel West, who enjoyed some of the lines Wright delivered during the question-and-answer session, which seemed to highlight his earlier points about the mainstream media not understanding neither the black church nor his positions about a variety of issues.

“He could be called flippant,” Prince said, “but the audience was eating it up. He was among his own. ‘You on it! You on it!’ one woman near me said.”

“Dr. Wright's interview with Bill Moyers and today's speech at the NPC were very beneficial in fleshing out who Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright is as a person and pastor, in addition to putting into context the sound bites looped repeatedly through various mediums,” said the Rev. Susan Newman, PhD, adjunct minister at Peoples Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington.

“The two-day ‘Teach-In on the Theology of the Black Church’ held in D.C. today and tomorrow is sponsored by The Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference, Howard University Divinity School and the United Church of Christ. For these two days, our nation’s leading black theologians, historians and sociologists are gathering to discuss the prophetic tradition of the black church and how it is viewed by society today. As Jeremiah has pointed out, what we have witnessed recently has not been an attack on Pastor Wright, but an attack on the black church,” Newman said in an e-mail interview from Kansas City, where she is attending another conference.

“The black church has always spoken truth to injustices in our society -- wherever it shows up -- racist people, systems, policies, government, private clubs, education, housing, employment, sports, media, entertainment and even in the church. The degree of heightened awareness and reaction to Jeremiah Wright only happened because he was the pastor of a man running for the president of the United States,” Newman added.

“For me, it didn’t detract from Obama’s perspective on race in this country,” said Maria Garriott, author of “A Thousand Resurrections,” which chronicles her and her minister husband’s assignment to build a multicultural ministry in Baltimore.

Garriott, who is white, also lectures about racial reconciliation in the church. She said that while she is able to put Wright’s remarks in context, it may not be so easy for others.

“I think these remarks are more difficult for those who work in a mono-cultural setting,” Garriott told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

She relayed the story of a close relative who believed she had demonstrated sensitivity to black co-workers and who felt wounded by Wright’s remarks.

“She was kind of hurt, and she said, ‘It made me wonder if that’s what my African American co-workers think of me,’” Garriott said. “I would hope people would see the whole controversy as an opportunity to have an honest discussion about race.”

Garriott added that she wished that Obama’s speech on race had gotten as much play as the original excerpts of Wright’s sermon because it was illustrative of Obama’s ability to build bridges between different communities.

“That’s the harder work, to be a bridge builder,” Garriott said.

While Wright spoke, a small group of protestors outside the National Press Club marched with picket signs that read “Wright Wrong” and “God Damn Wright,” and some media and political observers say the minister’s public remarks made things worse instead of better.

“Wright's recent appearances will continue to hurt the candidate, because the reverend is the radical Obama never was, and he's close enough to give skeptical white voters an excuse,” St. Petersburg Times media critic Eric Deggans said in his blog, posted minutes after the conclusion of Wright’s remarks. “Right now, Wright is holding court before the world's TV cameras and an admiring audience at the Press Club. His dismissive attitude toward the moderator's questions -- which basically articulate the concerns many white voters have about Wright's public statements and positions -- are playing well in the room, but will likely stoke anger among the assembled press and probably among some white viewers.”

“If this man cares one whit about getting an African-American elected, he ought to get off the national stage,” David Gergen, a White House adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton and political analyst told CNN.

Author, columnist, radio host and CNN contributor Roland Martin agreed with Gergen and told CNN that Wright has created a distraction from the issues that voters are genuinely concerned about, such as the war, HIV/AIDS and the economy.

Denise Savage, a consultant based in Washington, is one such voter.

“Nobody follows anybody totally, and I wish the press would stop talking about it,” Savage told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

“If every Catholic were following all the tenets and all the dogma set forth by the pope, there would be trillions of Catholics because no one would be practicing birth control. So why are we holding Obama to such a higher standard? He does not follow every tenet of Wright, and no one follows every tenet of their pastors," said Savage, a former Clinton supporter who switched to Obama just before the D.C. primary in February.

In an effort to end on a light note, moderator Donna Leinwand, National Press Club vice president, repeated part of a joke originally told by Chris Rock about Wright.

“Of course, Rev. Wright’s an angry 75-year-old black man. All 75-year-old black men are angry,” Leinwand quoted from the joke.

Asked by Leinwand “Is that funny? Is that true? Is that unfortunate?” the 66-year-old Wright replied: “It’s just like the media. I’m not 75.”

Rev. Jeremiah Wright Defending Himself, But Is He Hurting Barack Obama in the Process?

By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s recent schedule of public appearances, including a prime-time television interview with Bill Moyers Friday, either threaten to pose a major problem for Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign or is absolutely meaningless in the grand scheme of things, depending on to whom you talk.

“I don’t think it’s helpful for Obama at all,” said radio host, columnist and CNN contributor Roland Martin. “The story was dying down. Now, all of a sudden, with two critical primaries two weeks away, that could have an impact.”

Wright, former pastor at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, Obama's church home, said that publicizing sound bites of sermons from several years ago in which he condemned U.S. policies was “unfair” and “devious,” and done by people who know nothing about his ministry, he told "Bill Moyers’ Journal" in a PBS interview.

As an activist, he is accustomed to being “at odds with the establishment,” but the response to the sermons has been “very, very unsettling,” Wright said.

In a major address on race on March 18 in Philadelphia, Obama described the history of injustice that fueled Wright's comments, acknowledged white resentment of being portrayed as privileged and/or bigoted and denounced his former pastor's remarks.

The interview broadcast Friday was the first Wright has given since video featuring brief, fiery excerpts of his preaching hit the national scene last month and forced Obama to defend his own spiritual and political views. Wright is scheduled to speak Monday at the National Press Club in Washington.

Sunday night, Wright told an audience of 10,000 at an NAACP dinner that despite what his critics say, he is descriptive, not divisive, when he speaks about racial injustices.

"I describe the conditions in this country," Wright said during the 53rd annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner held by the Detroit chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"I'm not here for political reasons," Wright said. "I'm not a politician. I know that fact will surprise many of you because many in the corporate-owned media made it seem like I am running for the Oval Office. I am not running for the Oval Office. I've been running for Jesus a long, long time, and I'm not tired yet."

By speaking at the event, Wright was following in the footsteps of Obama and the senator's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as former President Bill Clinton. It's a $150-a-plate fundraiser billed as America's largest sit-down dinner.

"I am not one of the most divisive" black spiritual leaders, he said. "I'm one of the most descriptive."

Wright received a long, loud standing ovation.

“Rev. Wright has already been framed. Some people may get a greater understanding of him from what he has to say,” but a lot of people have already made up their minds about him, Martin told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

“Politically, you take the hit; you learn from it and move on,” Martin said, but for Obama, that has become more difficult because the issue, which took up most of March, has come back in April and threatens to roll into May.

Martin said the Obama campaign, however, has decided not to further engage the issue.

“They’re not going to comment on it because they don’t have to; (Obama has) already addressed it,” Martin said.

But Rev. Wright, lapel pins, “bitter” working-class white folks all mean bumpkiss to the average voter, said David Bositis, senior analyst for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a black think tank.

Bositis told BlackAmericaWeb.com he didn’t believe that Wright’s interview with Moyers really won’t have much of an impact.

“By and large, no, I don’t because there are real problems” that Americans are contending with, he said.

From Bositis' research, casual conversations and even listening to a recent radio talk show, he said, it is apparent voters “are tired of hearing about lapel pins and Rev. Wright," he said, "and what they are talking about is rice and Costco, how much gasoline costs, how much health care costs, the recession the country is in, people losing their homes and being in neighborhoods where lots of other people are losing their homes, increasing the risk of crime when you have abandoned homes. All this other stuff is a useless distraction to what other people are worried about.”

And while the issue may be framed in terms of how Obama may fair against McCain in November, it is nothing more than a smokescreen to suggest that these issues could cost Obama the Democratic nomination, Bositis said.

“Obama has more delegates, and when everything is done, he’s going to have more delegates, who are going to decide whether to seat Michigan and Florida, and it’s their decision. It’s not the party’s decision; it’s up to the delegation at the Democratic convention. And as long as Obama is in control of the delegation to the convention, he will tell the delegates how to vote, and this is one of the things that Clinton has been sick over,” Bositis said.

The argument that pledged delegates don’t have to vote for the candidate to whom they are pledged is technically true, but virtually impossible to have happen, he said.

“It’s typical of Clinton that she wants to break the rules. Those delegates are not picked at random. They pick the most loyal people to be delegates, and it’s Obama loyalists” who are chosen, Bositis said. “She can make up all the fantasies she wants.”

Bositis said although Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary last Tuesday, she cut Obama’s lead by just three delegates. Superdelegates, he said, are still migrating to Obama’s side.

“She hasn’t gained any ground,” said Bositis.

Bositis and Martin also took political pundits and journalists to task for lazy reporting that has only served to confuse and misinform voters.

Martin, who said he viewed Wright’s sermon in its entirety and pointed out in several interviews that excerpts of Wright’s comments were taken out of context, said few in the media have sought to correct the record, but several commentators have accused him of being an apologist for the minister or a partisan player for Obama.

“I represent fact, I don’t represent factions,” Martin said. “So when somebody says that Wright called for God to damn America, I’ve got to correct them immediately, whether it’s on my radio show or on CNN. Nearly every one of these people coming on the air, none of them has heard the sermon in question. The question is have you heard it? Have you heard it? Have you heard it? And when they say no, you have to say ‘How can you speak with authority on the sermon that you have not heard? You can’t extrapolate.’”

Bositis said he has stopped watching television political pundits because their information is not reliable.

“I can get data on the Web without listening to a bunch of fools. If I want news, I get news from printed sources -- although there are plenty of print sources that are bull -- or on the Web,” he said. “It’s not even informed speculation. Those people are selling themselves. They’re playing roles. They haven’t been hired for analysis. Like local newscasters, (stations) always look for people who are attractive, who come across as trustworthy, who people like. Well, these people are hired to rant and rave.”



Associated Press contributed to this story.

JEREMIAH WRIGHT SPEAKS ON PBS' 'FRONTLINE': Reverend tries to clear up controversy over his sermons.

Tonight, the PBS series "Bill Moyers Journal" will feature the first interview with Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ since controversy erupted over his sermons.


During the hour-long show, the former pastor tells fellow United Church of Christ member Moyers that snippets from his sermons have been taken out of context and offer a faulty picture of his views.


“I think they want to communicate that I am unpatriotic,” Wright says in the interview.


When asked by Moyers his reaction to Obama denouncing the more controversial parts of his sermons, Rev. Wright responded: "It went down very simply. He’s a politician, I’m a pastor. We speak to two different audiences. And he says what he has to say as a politician. I say what I have to say as a pastor. But they’re two different worlds. I do what I do. He does what politicians do. So that what happened in Philadelphia where he had to respond to the soundbites, he responded as a politician.”


Moyers asked: “In the 20 years that you’ve been his pastor, have you ever heard him repeat any of your controversial statements as his opinion?”


Wright anwered: “No. No. No. Absolutely not. I don’t talk to him about politics. And so he had a political event, he goes out as a politician and says what he has to say as a politician. I continue to be a pastor who speaks to the people of God about the things of God.”

Check local listings at www.pbs.org/moyers for the airtime in your area.


Meanwhile, Rev. Wright is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the NAACP Detroit Branch on Sunday. On Monday, he's due to speak at the National Press Club as part of a divinity conference of black church leaders. The event will be open to all media.

REV. WRIGHT SAYS HANNITY 'STUCK ON STUPID': Obama's former minister breaks silence; Minister rips Fox News during funeral service.

The embattled former minister of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama fired back at the news media during a Chicago funeral service.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright's remarks were reported in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Rev. Wright didn't mention church member Obama, who has denounced Wright's inflammatory comments circulated in video excerpts of his past sermons.

But in his eulogy at Saturday's funeral for the late R. Eugene Pincham, a retired judge, Wright has some choice words for some of his critics, including Fox News commentators Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity.

Wright said Pincham befriended "Jews, Muslims, rabbis, imams, fathers in the Catholic church and (Louis) Farrakhan in the Islamic faith."

"Fox News can't understand that," Wright intoned. "O'Reilly will never get that. Sean Hannity's stupid fantasy will keep him forever stuck on stupid when it comes to comprehending how you can love a brother who does not believe what you believe."

Wright's comments drew a standing ovation from the mega church's 2,500-seats filled with mourners. Wright also spoke of patriotism and the history of America's treatment of blacks. He said the country's founding fathers "planted slavery and white supremacy in the DNA of this republic," and said that Thomas Jefferson wrote, "God would punish America for the sin of slavery. I guess that makes Thomas Jefferson unpatriotic."

Rev. Wright Spoke a Lot of Truth - Stop Running Away from His Comments!

ROBERT N. TAYLOR COMMENTARY:

I have watched over the last few weeks as a host of Blacks, including media pundits and Democratic Party presidential frontrunner Barack Obama, have sought to soften, rationalize or run away from the fiery comments of Chicago minister Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Among the Wright sermons the establishment media lashed onto to demonize Wright where ones in which he suggested that the U.S. government had brought the 9-11 terrorist attacks on America by angering Arabs with its lopsidedly pro-Israel policy in the Middle East.

Wright also suggested that the government may have played a role in spreading AIDS in the Black community. And third he suggested that there are times when we watch the actions of our government: we should sing "God-damn America" not "God Bless America."

Rev. Wright's sermons accurately reflect the anger many African Americans frequently feel when they sit down and think about the racist and brutal ways we have been treated in this country by the government and other powerful institutions. There has been slavery, terrorism (i.e. Ku Klux Klan), violence, discrimination and conspiracy waged consistently against Black America for well over 200 years. We have been murdered, raped, castrated, terrorized and discriminated against and no one has ever given us an apology.

Why should we not be angry? We should not be apologizing or distancing ourselves from a minister's words as long as white America has never apologized or atoned for its deeds.

We play ourselves cheap and disrespect the sufferings of our ancestors when we allow ourselves to be placed in what Malcolm X frequently called a "trick bag" - in which the media has us - the victims of all manner of injustice and unfairness - pretending we not angry and denouncing and running away when someone who has the courage to express that anger.

We are expected to behave like lambs and angels while being victimized by wolves. Then insult is added to the injury by the white establishment demanding that we denounce or distance ourselves from those who express anger against the wolves.

I know not what you intend to do, but I will not apologize because the words of a Black man angers white America. "Apology" is not in my vocabulary until white America apologizes for its over 200 years of evil deeds - not just words but uncountable acts of evil.

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JEREMIAH WRIGHT HAS NEGATIVE EFFECT ON OBAMA: Poll says controversy weakened white support for presidential candidate.

According to the most recent News York Times/CBS News poll, support among white Americans for the presidential candidacy of Senator Barrack Obama “has softened” since the massive media reporting regarding his former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

The biggest decline in support took place among white males and upper income whites. Obama’s overall favorability rating dropped 7 points to 62 percent.


However, the poll taken between March 28th and April 2nd, did contain some good news for Obama regarding his close fight with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.


It showed that 74 percent of Democrats felt Obama was the kind of candidate who would unite the nation. Only, 60 percent felt the same way about Mrs. Clinton.


The decline in Obama’s overall popularity appears to have grown out of repeated stories regarding his former Chicago pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright.


Wright came in for heated criticism for suggesting that America’s Middle East policy was in part responsible for the 9-11 terrorist attack on the nation and that the government may have played a role in spreading AIDS in the Black community.

Trinity UCC Gets Increased Security

By: Christopher Wills, Associated Press

CHICAGO - (AP) The United Church of Christ, the parent denomination of Barack Obama's church, announced Thursday that it will begin a conversation on racial issues beginning next month in response to sermons by Obama's pastor that were critical of the U.S.

Leaders of Obama's church, Trinity United Church of Christ, meanwhile, asked reporters for respect, saying threats and a media onslaught are disrupting worship at the South Side church. The church has increased security in response to threatening telephone calls, letters and e-mails, they said.

At a news conference, the United Church of Christ's national leadership said the furor over comments by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright demonstrated the complexity of racial issues in the country and the need for churches nationwide to talk about them.

"The members of Trinity United Church of Christ are going through a very difficult time right now. The intersection of politics, religion and race has heightened our awareness of how easy it is for conversations about race to be anything but sacred," said the Rev. John Thomas, the denomination's president.

The Rev. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, echoed the call for a national discussion, beginning May 18. Kinnamon said he objects to seeing Trinity portrayed as an extremist sect, saying it and the UCC "are part of the wider Christian community."

With more than 8,000 members, Trinity is the largest United Church of Christ congregation in the country.

Wright, whose comments sparked the discussion, did not attend Thursday's news conference. He has remained out of public view since snippets of his sermons began appearing on cable news and the Internet, creating a political problem for Democratic presidential candidate Obama. The clips show Wright saying God should damn the United States and calling the country the "U.S. of KKK-A," among other things.

In response, Obama gave a speech about race in which he denounced Wright's comments but didn't turn his back on his longtime pastor.

The Rev. Otis Moss III, who is replacing Wright when he retires June 1, defended Wright's comments.

"One of the roles of the prophets: Sometimes you offend. You afflict the comfortable but comfort the afflicted," Moss said.

Moss wouldn't provide details about threats to Trinity, but church officials offered one example -- a call saying Wright would meet Jesus sooner than he thinks.

The church has stepped up its security. Chicago police are monitoring the situation but have no reason to believe the congregation or the neighborhood are in danger, spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

Moss also complained that some reporters have annoyed Trinity congregants and disrupted worship. They have called sick members at home and bothered others during services, he said, asking that reporters treat the church's "sacred space" with more respect.