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9/11 See other 9/11 Articles Title: Obama denounces pastor's 9/11 comments You know, these people spend more time stamping on brush fires than they do anything else! 56 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday denounced inflammatory remarks from his pastor, who has railed against the United States and accused the country of bringing on the Sept. 11 attacks by spreading terrorism. Obama called the statements appearing on television and the Internet "completely unacceptable and inexcusable" in a Fox News interview and said they didn't reflect the kinds of sermons he had heard from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright while attending services at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Obama, a member of the church since the early 1990s, said he would have quit Trinity had such statements been "the repeated tenor of the church. ... I wouldn't feel comfortable there." Earlier Friday, Obama responded by posting a blog about his relationship with Wright and Trinity on the Huffington Post. Wright brought Obama to Christianity, officiated at his wedding, baptized his daughters and inspired the title of his book, "The Audacity of Hope." Obama wrote that he's looked to Wright for spiritual advice, not political guidance, and he's been pained and angered to learn of some of his pastor's comments for which he had not been present. Obama told MSNBC that Wright had stepped down from his campaign's African American Religious Leadership Committee. "I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies," Obama said in his blog posting. "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 Reverend Wright that are at issue." In a sermon on the Sunday after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Wright suggested the United States brought on the attacks. "We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Wright said. "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost." In a 2003 sermon, he said blacks should condemn the United States. "The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme." He also gave a sermon in December comparing Obama to Jesus, promoting his candidacy and criticizing his rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton. "Barack knows what it means to be a black man to be living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people," Wright told a cheering congregation. "Hillary can never know that. Hillary ain't never been called a nigger." Obama told MSNBC that he would not repudiate Wright as a man, describing him as "like an uncle" who says something that he disagrees with and must speak out against. He also said he expects his political opponents will use video of the sermons to attack him as the campaign goes on. Questions about Obama's religious beliefs have dogged him throughout his candidacy. He's had to fight against false Internet rumors suggesting he's really a Muslim intent on destroying the United States, and now his pastor's words uttered nearly seven years ago have become an issue. Obama wrote on the Huffington Post that he never heard Wright say any of the statements, but he acknowledged that they have raised legitimate questions about the nature of his relationship with the pastor and the church. He wrote that he joined Wright's church nearly 20 years ago, familiar with the pastor's background as a former Marine and respected biblical scholar who lectured at seminaries across the country. "Reverend Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life," he wrote. "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." He said Wright's controversial statements first came to his attention at the beginning of his presidential campaign last year, and he condemned them. Because of his long and deep ties to the 6,000-member congregation church, Obama said he decided not to leave. "With Reverend 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," he wrote. Also Friday, the United Church of Christ issued a 1,400-word statement defending Wright and his "flagship" congregation. The statement lauded Wright's church for its community service and work to nurture youth and the pastor for speaking out against homophobia and sexism in the black community. "It's time for all of us to say no to these attacks and to declare that we will not allow anyone to undermine or destroy the ministries of any of our congregations in order to serve their own narrow political or ideological ends," John H. Thomas, United Church of Christ's president, said in the statement. ___ AP Religion Writer Eric Gorski in Denver contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: richard9151, christine, aristeides. Jethro Tull (#0)
(Edited)
This "white"(rather, Scots-Irish)-American agrees with the expressed rage of Obama's pastor against the now criminal government of these United States. Obama's choice of spiritual leader speaks very well of him. It's regretable that he has caved in to appease the Soviet-style don't-blaspheme-our-god-the- state- think that now dominates the controlled establishment media.
Check out my blog, America, the Bushieful.
Disagree. The proper sermon would have been to seize upon a teachable moment as opposed to simply ranting and raving. A good pastor would have encouraged his flock to change things and work toward solving problems as opposed to just complaining about them. A useless one just whines.
America is not at war. The military is at war. America is at the mall and the Congress is out to lunch.
A few weeks ago, I took Pastor Wright's mission statement at the Trinity United Church of Christ plugged it into Word and switched out the words white for black, Northern Europe for Africa. After posting it, the Obamaphiles weren't able to answer a simple question; why would the version I created be enough to run any white candidate out of the race, yet Pastor Wright’s original black version was non- offensive. My effort was to expose the racial double standard that is applied to whites, and not to blacks. It fell on deaf ears and I was attacked with the usual names people use to censure someone who dares to venture outside the boundaries of political correctness. I've met lots of people like Pastor Wright. If given the power, he and his acolytes would be to the radical left what the Neo-Trotskyites are to imperialism. I'd like to think with Obama & company (Saul Alinsky) you're buying a pig in a poke, but that isn't true. He and his wife sat in Pastor Wright’s church for 20 years and absorbed his radical Afrocentric theology. In Obama you have a slick, hard left-leaning elitist, who is the polar opposite of Ron Paul. How anyone can make the political leap from RPs constitutional roots, to the Alex Haley version of Roots confirms for me the proposition that this nation is doomed and I'm only here for the ride. BTW, I still think Hillary will be the nominee. Obama's failure to attack after the kitchen sink was thrown at him in Ohio tells me he 'gets it.'
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