Pastors, scholars at Dallas conference voice support for Jeremiah Wright

[El Supremo]

Source: The Dallas Morning News

More than two dozen well-known black preachers and scholars, in Dallas for a long-planned conference, offered unequivocal support Friday for one of their number who was not there.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, now world-famous as the former pastor and spiritual mentor of presidential candidate Barack Obama, was to be the guest of honor at the Black Church Summit held by Brite Divinity School. Amid the controversy about some of his sermons, Dr. Wright decided not to attend, but the summit started as scheduled.

Most of the event was not open to the media, but several of the scholars and preachers spoke at a news conference. They said that Dr. Wright's fit into a longstanding black tradition of prophetic preaching — one that the Rev Martin Luther King also emerged from.

"We have learned in recent days that you cannot reduce any black church to a monolith, much less a sound bite," said the Rev. Fredrick Haynes, senior pastor at Friendship-West Baptist Church, which hosted the summit....

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/032908dnmetchurchsummit.bad57f3.html

[Demeter]

1. Good For Them!

There's a power in numbers--and that's a good example of it! Call out the bastards on the bullshit they dump on individuals like Rev. Wright, trying to reduce his intellect and ethics to a slur and a sound-bite.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. That's right. It cuts both ways. If it's not right for Wright, then every pastor

in the USA is guilty. Remember how the anglo American pastors were in favor of the war and supported Bush in the beginning?

Heck, I remember during that time when my niece got married, her priest, during the sermon stated that it was okay to wish bad things on people, and he himself wished that Barbara Walters would slip on a banana peel. In a church sermon! There was no doubt in my mind to whom those comments were directed, because the niece didn't want a photo with any of the spouses of the family. I'm not even sure why I was invited.

What a hateful family. And they go to Catholic school too. I'm so disappointed in them.

[noel711]

10. Not this anglo american pastor!

And not many I know!

I preached against this damn war for weeks before the Bush/Cheney
evil was unleashed. Yeah, I took a lot of Hellish heat about
my 'traitorish' sermons, but too damn bad!

My calling to preach the truth to power, and not knee-jerk patriotism.
And I am appalled at the reaction of many so-called
'christians' to this travesty of justice called
overreaction and 'scandal' to Rev. Jeremiah Wright and thus to BArack Obama.

I am also extrememly dismayed by the reaction of many so-called
progressives who reject Christians as small minded right wing bigots.
They need to get out more, and learn more about the history of
progressives...

Jesus Christ himself spoke truth to the powers that be,
his actions and words are what convicted him...
and NOT the 'goody two shoes' nice-nice that is portrayed
in the American 'church.'

And please do not try me with the meme that says:
religion and politics should be separate.
Real religion is political.

[El Supremo]

11. I'd like to attend your church! n/m

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Well thanks for being you!

The problem with religion being political, is that they use the same argument. And there are more right-wing churches than left-leaning churches where I live.

[IndyOp]

2. Why America may go to Hell -

Rev. Fredrick Haynes, senior pastor at Friendship-West Baptist Church, which hosted the summit. <snip>

He said that if Dr. King were still alive, that his church would be like Trinity United Church of Christ, the Chicago church that Dr. Wright led until his recent retirement, and that Dr. King's sermons would be like Dr. Wright's sermons.

<snip>

Dr. Wright has been cited by Mr. Obama as his longtime pastor and spiritual mentor. In the past couple of weeks, parts of some of Dr. Wright's sermons have been repeatedly rebroadcast. In the sound bites, he attacks the Iraq war, claims that AIDS was produced by the U.S. government, and calls for God's condemnation of the United States for its policies about illegal drugs.

But that needs to be set into the context of preachers like Dr. King, Dr. Floyd-Thomas said, who once called America "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today. And he had been scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled "Why America may go to Hell" on the Sunday after he was assassinated in 1968, she said.

[robcon]

3. Depressing. The message of hate is common among some religious people.

n/t

[Vincardog]

4. WTF? How is preaching against war and killing a message of hate?

JC preached against state sponsored terror too. Was that a message of hate?

[High Plains]

12. What a load of Hannitized crap.

[Rage for Order]

14. Probably just another Garlic Nosed Italian

I bet that poster works for the government, cooking up HIV and crack to deliberately infect black people with the virus and get them hooked on crack. Freaking typical white person. :eyes:

[babylonsister]

5. RECOMMEND with thanks. The media needs to stop smearing this man. nt

[wryter2000]

6. What a shame Pastor Wright couldn't attend

They were going to honor him, and he couldn't even go.

[jbnow]

7. Wright may have decided not to attend

but the school had gotten so many threats and people insisting they cancel and great uproar that they had moved the planned ceremony honoring him to an undisclosed location. I was proud of them for refusing to give in to the pressure. I'm sure Wright didn't want things made worse for them.

I have been so angry and sad about this. They cull these minutes from years of speeches, twist them into a weapon to attack a presidential candidate and don't care that it makes the Rev. and church into collateral damage. The life work of a man made into an ugly picture, a congregation put through this...
They didn't try to present the other side, didn't suggest there was one. I wish I could MAKE the media try to show the truth of this. How dare they do this?

A journalist from Time mentioned casually that they had been going through years of his sermons and just hadn't founf more that was very controversial, some might turn up but there just wasn't much story left. WHAT? Shouldn't that be the story, that 99% of his sermons are "normal", not hatefilled anti whatever?
The story would only be more bd stuff?
It should be a crime, literally. They stoke hate and division on those buts and ignore the rest just looking for more things to inflame.
I am so sorry.

[2Design]

9. I listened to the whole thing and do not understand the outrage over

truth - this man was talking about the mess this government has made and how this is not a good america currently being run by BFEE

[Stargazer99]

16. You damned right and the gutless Americans whine about

the truth....they can't handle the truth as Rev Wright gives it.

[burrowowl]

17. I'm with you!

I thought it was a damn good sermon!

[Algorem]

15. So.They disagree with Obama.