Comments on: Those Pastoral Ties

By: SueN

SueN — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:36:00 +0000

In south India there are “miracle” boxes in local churches. Poor hindu villagers write out their wishes and some weeks hence the “miracle” takes place. This is literally buying converts and not surprisingly hindu-christian friction is on the rise after over a millennium of peaceful co-existence. I am with Hitchens on this, religion is the bane of human existence.

By: Hannah55

Hannah55 — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:24:12 +0000

Dave, excellent post and also the one from April 29. Just reading replies to the April 29 post and major kudos to Peterr and db11 (reply #107 is excellent!!!). Wright is right. He is a pastor and has a duty to God to speak God’s truth. That is why it is easy for him to condemn (or damn, as Wright so correctly points out the words have the same root “damnare”) the government when it is wrong (the government is not God). He can chide his congregation and the rest of us to do better. He has a duty to do so. The Old Testament prophets loved the people and the country, but saw that wrongs were being done, things against the will of God. The role of the prophet is to call people to change their ways; Wright preaches in that tradition.

And so after Wright has been painted as a “whack-a-doodle” by cable news, the right wingers, the corporate media and even Hillary, I don’t blame him one bit for speaking out. Not defending himself, but explaining his point of view, asking people to please listen to the entirety of what he has said, not just the out-of-context soundbites.

I agree with most of what Wright has said - some of it is out there, but not beyond the realm of possibility. The fact of the matter is that most Americans do not want to admit that there are racial and class problems in our country. Obama said as much in his speech.

It’s a crying shame that Obama has taken this personally, had to disown his former pastor, that the current tone in our country has made this such an issue. That the tabloid and corrupt media in this country can slander and mischaracterize a man (Wright) who has served in the military and served his poor Chicago neighborhood for his entire adult life. I blame the media for most of this. They push and push and push until Obama and Wright do what they have to do. In the end I hope it will make us more open and stronger as a country.

By: CitizenE

CitizenE — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:54:22 +0000

Yes, everyday white pastors get away with an aggressive, unlearned attack on evolution science; they have succeeded in many areas of the United States of keeping essential biological education from our nation’s youth. This a far more egregious misrepresentation of scientific discovery than claiming that the federal government spread AIDs among the black community and more dangerous because scientific illiteracy in the 21st century rife with the possibility of epidemics or environmental catastrophes require an accurately informed populace, especially in a nation whose place in the world of nations is so dominant.
It doesn’t, however, take a rocket scientist to realize that the key ingredient in media reportage–that is among people educated enough to know better–is (that socio-economic and historical construct) race.
Complete nutcases if they are white can blithely get away with calling the gay lifestyle the cause for 9/11 attacks, but it is heresy for a black man to point out that the behavior of our government and military–the suffering and tribulation thay have created (for whatever reason)–may have led to an enmity ripe for exploitation by terrorist thugs.

By: shell

shell — Thu, 01 May 2008 09:01:16 +0000

Great post! Thanks.

By: angie

angie — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:22:14 +0000

How does God curse anyway Mr. Hagee?

Thank you for the post David.

By: bonkers

bonkers — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:16:04 +0000

Thanks for that. ABB is great! I keep forgetting to check her out more…

By: wesgpc

wesgpc — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:09:38 +0000

I hope that FDL and others keep pressing this issue until McCain is forced to answer.

Dude, Hagee think it is God’s mission for the US to start a war in the Middle East to end the whole dang world, and send most of all to hell. The Jews are the chosen people because they get a second chance to convert after we are all frying.

McCain going after Hagee’s endorsement is 1000 time more relevant to how McCain will do his job than anything Wright, or McCain’s pastor, or Clintioin’s thinks. Or whether McCain is Baptist or an Episcopalian.

McCain must be forced to answer that question before the election.

By the way, what does McCain lying/fudging/weasling about his religion say about his integrity and his judgment?

By: angie

angie — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:07:18 +0000

selise and Hugh (via you), thank you.

peace.

By: RevDeb

RevDeb — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:05:19 +0000

yep. Now if we can get that correction into the Globe.

By: selise

selise — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:04:55 +0000

First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

— martin luther king
april 16, 1963 letter from birmingham jail

recommend related post (not wright related) from paul rosenberg at openleft.