Statement from Trinity United Church of Christ (via Politico)
“AN ATTACK ON OUR SENIOR PASTOR AND THE HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CHURCH"
Chicago, Ill. (March 15, 2008) — Nearly three weeks before the 40th commemorative anniversary of the murder of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.’s character is being assassinated in the public sphere because he has preached a social gospel on behalf of oppressed women, children and men in America and around the globe.
“Dr. Wright has preached 207,792 minutes on Sunday for the past 36 years at Trinity United Church of Christ. This does not include weekday worship services, revivals and preaching engagements across America and around the globe, to ecumenical and interfaith communities. It is an indictment on Dr. Wright’s ministerial legacy to present his global ministry within a 15- or 30-second sound bite,” said the Reverend Otis Moss III, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ.
During the 36-year pastorate of Dr. Wright, Trinity United Church of Christ has grown from 87 to 8,000 members. It is the largest congregation in the United Church of Christ (UCC) denomination.
“It saddens me to see news stories reporting such a caricature of a congregation that has been such a blessing to the UCC’s Wider Church mission,” said the Rev. John H. Thomas, UCC general minister and president, in a released statement. “ … It’s time for us to say ‘No’ to these attacks and 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.”
Trinity United Church of Christ’s ministry is inclusive and global. The following ministries have been developed under Dr. Wright’s ministerial tutelage for social justice: assisted living facilities for senior citizens, day care for children, pastoral care and counseling, health care, ministries for persons living with HIV/AIDS, hospice training, prison ministry, scholarships for thousands of students to attend historically black colleges, youth ministries, tutorial and computer programs, a church library, domestic violence programs and scholarships and fellowships for women and men attending seminary.
Moss added, “The African American Church was born out of the crucible of slavery and the legacy of prophetic African American preachers since slavery has been and continues to heal broken marginalized victims of social and economic injustices. This is an attack on the legacy of the African American Church which led and continues to lead the fight for human rights in America and around the world.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached the Christian tenet, “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Before Dr. King was murdered on April 4, 1968, he preached, “The 11 o’clock hour is the most segregated hour in America.” Forty years later, the African American Church community continues to face bomb threats, death threats, and their ministers’ characters are assassinated because they teach and preach prophetic social concerns for social justice. Sunday is still the most segregated hour in America.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Statement from Trinity United Church of Christ
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25 comments:
I think your church is disgraceful. I was christened and made my confirmation and communion in a UCC church, but people in our congregation did not understand your philosophy.
Trinity is horrible...Wright is deplorable.
Sinful behavior...Racist and Hateful.
Wright is a racist lunatic. Tell the family members of people who jumped 1,000 feet from the World Trade Center "their chickens came home to roost." How can the UCC defend this man? Does the UCC beleive the American government is responsible for AIDS? Wright does.
I really shouldn’t have allowed that comment because it was nothing more than an unfounded personal attack. Dr. Wright’s theology is sound even if his language is sometimes difficult to hear (all good prophetic theology challenges us and makes us uncomfortable). To call him racist for pointing out the racist flaws that still exist in America would be laughable if it wasn’t so evil. A twist of words used to hide the reality of racism that remains. Do you feel better now? Does attacking him make you feel better about your country? This is a man who has done so much both in Chicago and across the globe to alleviate suffering and to promote healing. If you want a place to attack him go back to the FOX news website. I won’t allow it here.
I am a gay, practicing Episcopalian. I know what it is to be slandered and demeaned by those who profess and call themselves Christians, and at the same time by non-believers in the LGBT community for my faith
God bless the Trinity UCC and its mission
Who had access to and released such high-quality video of Dr. Wright that has an axe to grind against the Obama campaign? The imagery is professional quality that appears to have been very easy for the national media to log and slice into the only the most inflammatory statements. Who had this access? Who would want to slander the UCC, Trinity, Obama, and a large group of generally responsible people by decontextualizing and assembling these comments. Who could do it so well? I sincerely hope somebody is on top of this, it's the real seedy side of the whole story that is not being discussed AT ALL. WHO?
Reverend Wright strikes me as a hate-monger who will not be satisfied until he has a race war on his hands.
Senator Obama, by a strong, continued association, has lost any and all credibility in my eyes.
I am sorry for your congregation, I am sure there are very fine people that attend your church. But this goes beyond anything a reasonable person could accept.
To compare this to the assassination of MLK is heresy on the part of your congregation.
I believe the comment about the World Trade Center and chickens coming home to roost is founded on the Rev. Wright's comment.
So is the comment on the responsibility for Aids.
Some people don't accept the idea that only people in positions of power can be racist. It is not a tenet of belief in the UCC.
Lunatic is over the top.
Those comments, about the HIV virus, the attack on 9-11, and others brought to light, are certainly legitimate subjects for questioning.
The UCC and it's official news venues serve no one well by stifling discussion and trying to frame it all as an attack on Rev. Wright, his congregation or the UCC.
Actually, I think there is plenty of room for questioning. Did Dr. Wright’s comments help or hurt the causes he so deeply believes in. I never would have used the words he did in a sermon (though I’m in a different context, of course, and come from a different background). So debate is fine. Debate is good. But demonizing my colleague or his church if off the table as long as I’m moderating comments.
I have been a Christian for 20 years. I have never heard my pastor swear from the pulpit. That is never acceptable.
I am an African American diplomat from the South Side of Chicago, which is home to Trinity Church. I am proud to serve my country. I find Reverend Wright's comment "God damn America" to be offensive and it is difficult to see how his rhetoric which emphasizes the negative can be compared with that of Dr. King's which emphasized a positive dream even during the worst moments of the civil rights movement. Dr. King always appealed to the better angels of our nature and the best aspirations of the American people, you get none of that from the press release of Trinity. Reading it one would be forgiven if you thought it was a press release from the 1960s and not today. There is no hint of the progress that has been made or of the success of the historic campaign of Obama and the millions of whites that have voted for him and campaigned for him. Millions of Black Americans fought for the right to fight for America and to serve and represent America because, in spite of all its flaws, they loved America and saw the great potential of this country. Wright and Trinity should spend as much time talking about what is great about America as they do talking about its flaws. It might make it easier for others to hear their message.
207,792 minutes on Sunday over 36 years gives 111 minutes each Sunday. Is that the total service, or the length of the sermon?
How did you come up with that number? (I'm an engineer, and a geek, so the source of numbers is fascinating to me).
BTW, I think that your characterization of this as an "an attack on the legacy of the African American Church" is a bit overwrought.
This really is an attack on Barack Obama, and more specifically an attack on his attempts to create a campaign that is unifying rather than divisive. As such, I think that your response may damage Barack Obama, his campaign, the legacy of the African American Church, and the country, though I am speaking as a Jew, so there are doubtless elements that I simply do not understand.
What is your definition of demonizing your colleague and his Church?
I looked up this church on the web shortly after Sen Obama became a candidate. After studying the web information, I came to the conclusion that this church had problems that would negatively affect Sen Obamas' good judgement as a Presidential candidate. Unfortunately it is worse than I thought.
It would seem that Rev Wright has some issues that he needs to personally resolve. As do those in the congregation one can see jumping up and down and claping hands at the hateful words. This kind of hateful rhetoric does nothing to help heal the wounds of those who deal with ethnic bias whether it be black, white, religion etc. It only propagates division and hatred. America has come a long way in righting many of those biases. We do still have a long way to go but this kind of talk further divides, not unite. I am sure the Church and Rev Wright have done much good, no one is all bad or good. But the good can be harmed greatly by thoughtless (we hope it was thoughtless) words or deeds.
When I hear something that gives me pause to question....my question is "does this make God greater or lesser?" If the answer is lesser.....run. In this case I run.
I join Senator Obama in rejecting “outright the statements by Reverend Wright that are at issue”. I hope that doesn’t mean that some within the UCC will now characterize me, or Senator Obama, as attacking Trinity UCC in Chicago, Reverend Wright, the denomination, or the history of the African American church.
Unlike Senator Obama, I won’t denounce all statements that “disparage our great country” or that serve “to divide us from our allies”, but I will reject some of the statements by Reverend Wright that could be construed as such.
Although, I'm a white woman, I understand, or I try to understand, for lack of a better term 'Black Anger'but it's a feeble attempt. How can anyone other than Blacks truly understand?
That said, watching the video clips of Rev. Wright is unsettling for me and seems so contradictory to how Obama presents himself, his beliefs, his life and his faith in God.
However, I doubt those clips are representative of all sermons preached by Rev. Wright.
I voted for Senator Obama in Ohio Primary. My county voted overwhelmingly for Senator Clinton... 79% Clinton to 19% Obama. I canvassed my community the weekend before the primary, on March 4th and going door to door, the #1 reason people gave for not voting for Senator Obama was that idiotic email about him being a Muslim... whether it was true or not, people told me, it's not worth making a mistake by voting for him AND #2 the fact he is black. This is what people, in my community, told me. So, after 2 days of doorknocking, I think I may have helped to change a handful of people's minds.
Today, I am wondering what my neighbors are thinking with the release of these video clips of Senator Obama's Pastor, Rev. Wright.
I'm wondering, at this moment, if a good man (Senator Obama) is going to be destroyed and the Hope that was filling so many Americans hearts is going to be denied us?
God, help us, please.
Let me remind folks that this is not the site to discuss the presidential campaign or your feelings about any of the candidates – pro or con. Please limit discussion here to the issues involving Trinity, the theologies involved, racial justice, etc. I know in this instance it is hard to separate the two but please try.
As an African American female, I am appalled at the statements made by Pastor Jeremiah Wright. First of all, I have been taught that you never use the word "da-- in the same context with God for it is the same as da--ing God himself. Secondly, I have yet to hear him make reference to actual Biblical text. Meanwhile, my understanding of Christianity is that leaders should follow the word of God and spread messages of love, not hate. Also, my Bible does not tell me to make any ethnic or color distinctions amongst followers; the Great Commission in Matthew 28 specifically refers to "all nations" not some or one nation. Also, the message of the Gospel should be spreading love and good news, not hate and division. Next, Jeremiah Wright's slanderous words regarding the victims of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are equally as appalling. In fact, his words should be condemned by all Christians. It appears that most are not realizing his actual affect on his parishioners, particularly Michelle Obama. Do we not remember her words regarding just recently being proud to be American? Maybe hearing words from Jeremiah Wright for 20 years had a direct affect on her ability to make sound judgment in this area. She is a very intelligent woman who appears to have been taken in by the message of a false prophet. Regardless, I pray for all concerned so that the true message of God is received and shared.
I do not agree with Pastor Wright's comments, but I also find some of the stone throwing in this blog community as equally disturbing.
If you are a member of the UCC, you are standing on a bedrock of articulate, passionate, RESPECTFUL disagreement and dissent that leads to greater understanding of one's self and others.
I imagine that out of 8,000 members of Trinty Church, there are a number of congregants that are not in agreement with all things Pastor Wright has said in the past 36 years.
I'm sorry. The comments by Rev. Wright are against everything that I was always taught that the UCC believes in. I believed that the UCC was trying to teach acceptance and bridge the gap between the races. There is no way to put the statements by Rev. Wright in any context other than hatred.
If I had heard a white UCC minister say racist or anti-semetic comments, I would have walked out and asked for them to be dismissed.
I'm replying as a white woman, so I hope you are willing to hear me out, consider what I say, and *then* make a comment (if you so choose).
I don't know if you realize what it feels like to be me or any white person in America today. I'm sure I don't know what it's like to be a black person in America today. I was raised in a very integrated community, an Air Force base. My siblings and my Godparents were African-American, African, Japanese, English, and American. It wasn't until my family moved away from the Air Force base that I realized there was such a thing as a "white" community. The first prayer I ever remember creating on my own, my first request of God, was that I would wake up in the morning, and my family would be black. Now, you may not want to believe that, but consider this: My father, a Christian, was brought up in a church that preached Hell, Fire, and Damnation. It turned him off of organized religion forever. Therefore, it was just mother, my siblings, and me who went to church on Sundays. We then came home, and went about our regular day. When I would go to church with our black friends, it was not just Awe-inspiring, it was Awesome! Everyone loving and hugging and singing at the top of their lungs, going home to a mini-family reunion, and spending the rest of the day celebrating and in fellowship. I loved it! *That* is what I thought the difference between black people and white people was (aside from our hair; we all had to touch each other's hair a lot). That is why I used to pray that I would wake up, and my family would be black. I wanted my father to go to church with us, for the church to be so incredibly exciting, and for every Sunday to be a celebration.
That said, I grew up. Although I have maintained friendships with many people from many different cultures, I have come to recognize that many black people are not ready to be as open to a friendship with me as I am with them. I persevere, most of the time, but it's out of determination on my part, truly. I have had people of color swear at me on the street, slam into me at malls, call me "white b___h" over the phone, and give me the cold shoulder in work places and grocery stores. I cannot understand this, as I have always been taught to be courteous to everyone. My parents never *taught* us to consider everyone as equals, everyone just *was* equal. We learned by *their* examples.
I'll never forget being in a Red Lobster a few years ago. I was the only white person in a waiting room of about 25 or 30 black people. When I sat down to wait, mothers pulled their children away from me, and everyone stopped talking to stare at me. One little girl in a yellow dress kept creeping over to me, and her mother kept dragging her back. Finally, I told her that I liked her pretty dress. She smiled, and her mother scowled. I backed off. Then I pulled out of my purse a small photo album of a trip I had taken to a big cat sanctuary. I was fortunate enough to have been able to play with the baby tigers and get lots and lots of pictures with or near big cats and other wild animals. I found a great picture and held it out to her and her mother. I said, "Do you like tigers? I got to play with some baby tigers. Would you like to see the pictures?" Within minutes, the entire crowd was packed around me, and we were talking about the sanctuary, while they passed the photo album around. I left that restaurant feeling very good about what happened, knowing that we are all the same inside, but that it sometimes just takes a little something to show us our connections.
All of these experiences and more are what have created the white woman who is me. I'm not so different from the rest of the white community. Therefore, when I hear comments, such as those Reverend Wright made, regardless of the context, I am hurt. I cried when I saw those clips. Those clips make me feel like the bigotry, hate, evil, and criminal acts that have been heaped on the black community are being turned on the white community. I cannot see how that will help anything. I am so worried that the words that Rev. Wright said either are reflective of the black community's feelings or will spark a flood of that sort of hatefulness (and hatefulness is what it feels like to me). I cannot for the life of me figure out why a community of people who have been victims of what the black community has experienced would ever want to be on the giving end of that sort of behavior.
I know everyone keeps saying those words were taken out of context, but unless the immediate previous words to those clips were, "I hope I never hear these words.", I cannot imagine a context that would make me feel good about them.
The white community has been working very very hard to right wrongs, prevent prejudice in our children, disallow it in those around us, and learn to empathize. Maybe this is new for the black community; maybe they need to learn to empathize. The words that Rev. Wright spoke makes me wonder if what the white community has been working toward is a lost cause. Can the white community ever be forgiven for the sins of their predecessors? Will we forever be persecuted for the sins of our fathers? If so, does that apply across the racial spectrum? Should we round up all of the children of criminals in the penal system and start persecuting them now?
Can you see what this is doing to me, to us all?
Intentional or not, I am very hurt and offended. Those are my feelings, and even if one doesn't intend to hurt feelings, when one does, it behooves one to (at the very least) consider changing his/her behavior.
I would be happy if you would consider what it must be like for me (or any white person) to hear those words. Re-listen to those sermons, and imagine the word "black" every time the word "white" is mentioned; see if that helps you understand my point of view.
Respectfully, but hurt,
Gwen B.
I'm Japanese. It seems to me "God bless America" is said only at war time.
But Who Would Jesus Bomb? Bomb the people he died for?
It seems that churches in Japan or US conservative have lost the value. That is people needs to be alive in order for them to hear the gospel.
Because we are delusioned identify ourselves with establishment, rather than the oppressed.
Takashi Ano
Rev. Wright is a veteran and an african american who has experienced the darkest days of this country. How dare me, a white woman in her 30s judge his experiences? He has certainly earned the right. On April 4, 1968, this country murdered another african american minister whose words made the dominant culture uncomfortable. Who was called a communist. Who dared question the establishment.
Jesus said "judge not lest ye be judged" and "let he who is without blame, cast the first stone."
If you are ignorant, than we will pray you find wisdom. If you are angry, we pray you find peace. And may God have mercy on your soul.
They know not the constitution of the United States of America; They know not the history of the United states; they know not the teachings of Jesus or the Bible; they care not about damage done to blacks in this country under the authority of Christianity; and they care not about equality.
As a black Episcopalian and lawyer, I have been sick over the lack of support and defense of Rev. Wright and I know I never would have cast a vote for Sen. Obama if his denouncement had occured before I voted although I know it is a product of racism that he be called upon to comment about another's words in the first place. Although 42 U.S.C. 1981 say we are to be treated the same as "white people" , this all is a glaring example that we are not.
I just want Rev. Right to know that that many of us without position or a forum knows the historical and biblical authority for his sermon and understands the message. You are a great American by using the First Amendment as intended to speak truth to our government and a good shepard in trying to expose the error of our path and attempt to set a rightous course for your flock.
I am a 66 year old white woman atheist. I am proud to say that I was raised in the UCC and still feel connected to it in spirit. The UCC was certainly responsible for my sense of social justice and equality. The snippets of Rev. Wright's sermons recently televised and condemned represent .00005 percent of his total Sunday preaching!! Are we to judge him on the basis of this small sample? And why should we white people, who have not had the black experience, presume to judge him at all? It is disheartening that so many Americans are so quick to judge on the basis of such limited, selective information. God, if you are there, help us!
I agree with those who have commented on how quick many here are to throw stones. I wonder how many people who stand ready to condemn Rev. Wright have actually sat through even one service at Trinity UCC.
I have. Trinity is a warm, bright, beacon of the love, hope, and salvation of Christ on the south side of Chicago. It is the largest and one of the most vibrant churches in the UCC. We should be willing to experience it for ourselves instead of relying on 10 second sound bytes and media talking heads to tell us what to think about Trinity or its former pastor.
And if we can't or won't do that...maybe it wouldn't hurt to give a little benefit of doubt instead of blanket, knee-jerk condemnation.
Peace,
TR
As a member of the UCC and a member of Trinity United Church since 1989, I am appalled that members of UCC on this blog that would spew such hateful comments about my church and our pastor and without taking a moment for an intellectual deep dive into the matter.
Are you really that obtuse or don’t you understand that the media and certain motivated political entities have taken these 30 second sound bites out of context to create a firestorm against Obama –at any means necessary.
Don’t you realize that anyone’s words can be edited and situations can be twisted to make them look like a raving lunatic?
I encourage you to not be swayed by the media’s misrepresentation of Rev. Wright or our church. Before casting your judgments, watch the sermons yourself and listen to what was really said and then take a position on the matter.
Please go to http://www.youtube.com/user/TRINITYCHGO and read the various blogs on the truthabouttrinity.blogspot.com
Use your God given gifts of comprehension and compassion and re-think this matter once you have had a chance to hear the REAL TRUTH.
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