Pastoral Statement Regarding the Ministry and Witness of
Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Il,
Dr. Jeremiah Wright and Senator Barak Obama
Delivered to
St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church,
Newark New Jersey
Sunday, March 16, 2008
By
William D. Watley, Senior Pastor
Since his bid for the presidency of the United States, the membership of Senator Barak Obama of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago and his friendship with his former pastor, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, have been made campaign issues and given full blown coverage in the media during the past week. I would like make several points regarding this much publicized ancillary issue with its incendiary and biased reporting that has the potential of sidetracking the American public from real survival subject matters that face this country.
First, regarding Dr. Jeremiah Wright and Trinity Church: I have personally known Dr. Wright for a number of years and even though we do not agree on everything, I most certainly take issue and umbrage with the image that is being painted of him by much of the media. In spite of the snippets that have been played over and over again from his sermons, and the spin given to it, I can assure you that Dr. Wright is solid, sane, scholarly, and spiritual. Trinity Church, in my opinion, is one of the most respected, progressive, inclusive, and significant houses of worship in this nation. Senator Obama worships in a stable, sound, nurturing, and prophetic Christian community and his pastor brings a solid and sane word to his congregation. He has no reason to be ashamed or apologetic of either his pastor or his church.
While some would interpret Trinity’s slogan of “Unapologetically Black and Unashamedly Christian” as racist, no one labels the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Dutch Reformed Church or the American Baptist Church as such. And they should not be given such a label. No one raises any eyebrows when they hear the expression German Lutheran. Trinity United Church of Christ should not be classified in this way. They are ethnically affirming the community they serve just as the African Methodist Episcopal Church (a denomination which split from the Methodist Church over the issues of slavery and racism) is affirming of its members. Celebrating ethnic heritage or national affiliation is not racism, but a way of affirming historic identity.
Could it be possible that even in this post modern era of exploding myths and falling idols, many are still paranoid at the mention of the word “black”? The hysteria that certain persons and portions of the media are attempting to create stems from the fact that there are significant elements in our society and culture are still just as mortified at the mention of the word “black” today as they were in 1968 when popular singer James Brown shouted, “Say it Loud! I’m Black and I’m Proud!” Only those who have been victims of centuries of caricaturing and stereotyping can understand and appreciate the declaration of positive black identity, not as a divisive strategy or as an expression of hate, but as pastoral self love and a much needed corrective to a tragic history of ingrained self-rejection.
Secondly, I would like to say a word about freedom of speech. While we as a country celebrate freedom of speech, we are still uncomfortable with those who take the freedom of speech seriously enough to critique the policies of our nation that contradict our founding principles. These persons are labeled as unpatriotic. Rather than being offended by critique, I look beyond rhetorical flourishes and excesses that are inherent to oratory of whatever ilk, whether religious, political, business, and academic, and ask if the essence of what is being said is true. The reality is this, what Dr. Martin Luther King said years ago, still rings true. Our country that started out as a defender of select poor, since the rights of Africans were never part of the equation, has been on the wrong side of a world revolution for years. I am personally uncomfortable with members of clergy who never offer any word of critique regarding social justice issues and who swallow hook, line, and sinker anything that the conservative right sells no matter what the nefarious implications of that agenda might be. Freedom of speech means the right to be critical and criticism is not to be associated with being unpatriotic.
Third, I would point out that while many are offended by some of Dr. Wright’s comments and analyses of this country, I wonder if they have read closely the preaching of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Haggai, John the Baptist, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of the Old Testament prophets called for the judgment of God on their people. Our Lord Jesus Christ had prophetic bite and righteous indignation regarding injustice. Unless news commentators have truly studied the scriptures, they are not qualified to understand or judge prophetic critique.
Fourth, African Americans who look at history from the underside, have a different perspective of reality than others who have been in a position of majority advantage. White America has yet to understand or appreciate that perspective or to really grasp the sense of alienation that a number of blacks feel based upon this country’s historic and institutional treatment of us. Yet in spite of this country’s track record with us we have fought in all of its wars, paid our taxes, and never failed our country when we have been called upon to rally to its defense.
Fifth, this latest foray of the media into the religious affiliation of Barak Obama is just another attempt to discredit him and separate him from the interracial and intergenerational constituency that has given him victory after victory in this presidential contest. In the opinion of this preacher and citizen, he is still a major unifying force and voice of hope, among others, for a new, brighter, and better America. While we will all make our decisions regarding a presidential choice, I would just caution all people not to believe the hype of a sensationalistic media whose agenda is not an accurate reporting of the news but the spinning of news in ways that attract the most attention, sells the most products, and brings in the greatest profit. While some in the media may be uncomfortable with the tone of preaching that takes place in a number of churches, there are many others who are offended with the way much of the media spins stories out of context and intentionally omits information because for them, as long as it sells, it is simply business as usual.
Now is the time for all of us who are concerned and passionate about the future of this nation to declare, “Business as usual is no longer acceptable!” Now is the time for change. The words of Deutero-Isaiah spoken so long ago in another context to another people, can serve as our rallying cry for America. He said, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch” (Isaiah 62: 1, NRSV). So let each of us say, “For [America’s] sake I will not keep silent, and for [this nations’] sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch.”
CLERICS' QUANDARY
Thursday, March 20, 2008
BY JEFF DIAMANT
Star-Ledger Staff
The crowd at St. James AME Church in Newark yesterday was a solid 500, not a bad rainy-day showing for the Rev. William Watley, who on drier Wednesdays easily draws 650 parishioners for his noon service.
The day's topic, Watley acknowledged, would be unusual: the uproar over race sparked by sermons of the Chicago minister who is a longtime spiritual adviser and friend of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
As parishioners of the African-American church urged him on with cheers, "mmm-hmmms" and shouts of "Preach it!," Watley defended the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose sermons from Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago at least occasionally cast the United States as an evil force in the world.
"I have personally known Doctor Wright for a number of years, and even though we don't agree on everything, I most certainly take issue and umbrage with the image that is being painted of him by much of the media," Watley said.
He added, "I can assure you that Doctor Wright is solid, sane, scholarly and spiritual."
Wright's rhetoric often draws on mistreatment of African-Americans, from slavery onward. More controversially, Wright, who retired last month, has likened the actions of the U.S. government to al Qaeda's and said the 9/11 attacks were "America's chickens coming home to roost" for oppressive foreign policies.
On Tuesday, during a speech in Philadelphia on race relations, Obama, a member of Trinity United for two decades, condemned several of Wright's sermons. He also praised Wright's impact on his life.
Obama's speech has sparked discussions throughout the country, inspiring many pastors to ponder ways to broaden discussion of race relations from the pulpit. For some pastors, race remains a political, not a religious, issue.
The Rev. Elizabeth Kaeton, pastor of the Episcopal Church of St. Paul in Chatham, said her church is likely to hold a discussion forum after Easter on Obama's speech, and that his words may become discussion fodder at future church observances of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
"When I was listening to Obama's speech, I thought: 'Oh my goodness. This is a speech that political science students are going to be studying ... for generations to come,'" Kaeton said.
For clergy nationwide, the recent scrutiny of Obama's church habits touches a professional nerve. Virtually all of them have deeply upset at least some of their congregation from time to time, in one way or another.
"I can't imagine myself saying what Jeremiah Wright did," Kaeton said. "But if I said something from the pulpit that was grievous to someone, I would hope my parishioners would be as loving and as Christian as Barack Obama was. I thought he handled it with great dignity and great compassion and really showed remarkable leadership."
Rabbi Donald Rossoff of Temple B'nai Or, a Reform synagogue in Morristown, said he thought Obama's speech did justice to a tough subject. Still, Rossoff said he is unlikely to expound on it during sermons, for fear of appearing to favor one candidate over another.
"I admired his forthrightness," Rossoff said. "I don't want to come off as endorsing him, but I thought he handled what I believed to be a minor issue and used it to address much more important issues -- race relations in America."
The Rev. Mark Sciffiti of First Assembly of God Church in Pennington, Mercer County, said he would discuss the speech from the pulpit if this weren't Holy Week, the busiest time of the year for Christian clergy.
"It's such a high-profile and prominent issue," he said.
Sciffiti said Obama did the best he could, given his difficult political situation.
"I would imagine if I was him, I'd be trying to do the same thing -- straddle the fence and walk in between and hopefully get out of this thing, get it behind me," Sciffiti said. "... I don't know a better way he could do what he's doing."
Sciffiti said he was troubled by what he heard of Wright's sermons on television and Youtube.com. He said of Obama: "I don't envy his position. Some people will say, 'It doesn't matter what he said -- he sat there for 20 years'" at Trinity.
The Rev. Lloyd Pulley, pastor of Calvary Church of Old Bridge, said he doesn't expect his church to hold any discussion of presidential candidates until much closer to Election Day, when each party has a nominee.
In any case, he said, Obama's speech did not impress him. He said he is concerned by the candidate's ties to Jeremiah Wright's church, which bills itself as "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian."
"It doesn't sound like Obama should be associated with that if he's trying to unify people," Pulley said. "It makes me wonder: Do we really know who Barack Obama is?"
For the Rev. Watley of St. James, though, there is nothing wrong with either the slogan or the Black Liberation Theology associated with the church.
"Only those who have been victims of centuries of caricaturing and stereotyping can understand and appreciate the declaration of positive black identity," Watley said to applause during his noontime sermon yesterday. "Not as a divisive strategy or as an expression of hate, but as pastoral self-love and a much-needed corrective to a tragic history of ingrained self-rejection."
Referring to Obama, he said moments later, "In the opinion of this preacher and citizen, he is still a major unifying force and voice of hope, among others, for a new, brighter and better America."
Jeff Diamant can be reached at jdiamant@starledger.com or (973) 392-1547.
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