First it was the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and now the Reverend Michael Pfleger. What's with Obama's crackpot preacher pals?
One is white and one is black. And there are probably more of them that the Obama campaign is trying to muzzle as we speak. But does Obama seem peculiarly unfortunate in his choice of mentors and allies, or is there an ideological basis to what these preachers are saying?
Chicago, where Obama is from, is the capital of what may be called the Black Liberation Theology movement in the United States. This movement is a legacy of the 1960s, and has more to do with Malcolm X than Martin Luther King.
Malcolm X, you may recall, denounced Christianity as a racist religion which had created what he called a "blond, blue-eyed Jesus." Malcolm X called on blacks to repudiate this bigoted religion. He himself embraced the Nation of Islam with its own peculiar theology.
Some black activists, notably a theologian named James Cone, agreed with Malcolm X. But their solution was not to abandon Christianity. Rather, they countered what they saw as the white man's Christianity with a kind of black equivalent. In this view, Christ was not blond and blue eyed but rather black and Afrocentric. Picture Christ with an Afro and dashiki leading a revolutionary liberation movement against the white Pharoahs and you'll get the picture.
Cone and others spearheaded a new interpretation of the Bible which is now read as a story of emancipation from white racist oppression. Unfortunately what black liberation theology does is to take all the old racial stereotypes and simply invert them. Consequently the new theology was no less race-conscious and prejudiced than the one it sought to replace.
The Reverend Jeremiah Wright explicitly associates himself with black liberation theology. I don't know about Pfleger, but his rhetoric also reflects the same themes. Ironically there are some whites like Pfleger who are attracted to the doctrine of white oppressors and black martyrs. Presumably these whites hope that by allying themselves with black virtue they can escape the moral stigma of being white.
Obama and his campaign managers have been trying to promote the lie that this bizarre cult of black liberation theology is actually mainstream teaching in the black church. And again there is a strain of condescending white liberalism that is quick to agree. "Yes, of course they say crazy things in the black church, Mildred, but you have to understand the terrible things those people have been through."
In reality you only have to sample black churches across the country to see that this is a calumny against black Christians, who are mostly traditional in their understanding of the Bible and who don't spend their Sundays chanting "God damn America!"
I'm relieved that Obama has finally summoned the good sense to quit the Reverend Wright's Trinity Church. Ultimately what Obama needs to repudiate is not only the odd Reverend who happens to embarrass his campaign but the racist ideology that calls itself black liberation theology.
Reader Comments ( Page 5 of 44)
61. "Could God really make such morons the chosen, who as soon as Moses is out of sight ... completely forget who the hell had just saved them from death and slavery???
JimCO
The forgetfulness and rebellion of the Hebrews is an illustration of humanity's relationship with God. We are ungrateful and forever in sin. This is why we needed a savior. Without Jesus, none of us could be redeemed. It also teaches us about God’s love. He never ceases loving us.
janesophie1 at 12:25PM on Jun 2nd 2008
62. He must have been at least a bisexual. He did get Mary preggie.
a born atheist at 12:25PM on Jun 2nd 2008
63. Robert #36
The purpose of the Blessed Mother(Mary) is to lead souls to Christ. She exists only to serve her son and savior, Jesus Christ.
janesophie1 at 12:28PM on Jun 2nd 2008
64. Jane, your post #63 is mother church's dogma, which is not stated in the bible.
JefFlyingV at 12:33PM on Jun 2nd 2008
65. Oh, yes, Passover.............................
The celebration of the murder of thousands of Egyptians children and babies.
Lovely religion.
Linda at 12:34PM on Jun 2nd 2008
66. ATHEIST
Christianity TEACHES you to be stupid.
Instead of LOGIC, you go with whatever nonsense you "Believe."
Dinesh is an example.
Hagee is an example.
Today's post is an even better example.
Christianity is and was an End of the World cult. As long as you think Christianity has some basic credibility, you always get the WRONG answers.
friggin' nonsense, that's what it is.
The dead do NOT come back to life. Basing your whole philosophy on the hope that the dead will come back to life... makes you dumb.
William Hays at 12:36PM on Jun 2nd 2008
67. John McCain's pastor problems...
Rev John Haggee:
"And they the hunters should hunt them, that will be the Jews. From every mountain and from every hill and from out of the holes of the rocks. If that doesn't describe what Hitler did in the holocaust you can't see that."
Rev Rod Parsley:
"I do not believe that our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed.”
So D'Idiot, where are these editorials?
T.Brough at 12:44PM on Jun 2nd 2008
68. I hope to live to see the first woman president. But I also hope she will be an idealist, not only a gender pioneer but a bold, brave, and innovative leader who is not part of a flawed Washington system.
I want America to send a powerful signal to a watching world that we have now taken a giant step into the global culture by electing an African-American.
But my hope and dream also is, and has been since the days of John and Robert Kennedy, that this president will call us to a nobler mission and a higher goal, that he will remind us always of our Constitutional principles and ideals, that he will place us back on our historic path to the establishment of a more perfect union and a principled republic.
Ever an idealist, I therefore place my hope in Barack Obama. It is time for the idealists, even the aging ones, to raise the flag again.
NOT4HILLARY at 12:46PM on Jun 2nd 2008
69. NOT4HILLARY
I like your comment.
Jerry Brown at 12:52PM on Jun 2nd 2008
70. As a lifelong Roman Catholic I have seen quite a few priests like Pfleger. These priests spend most of their time preaching self loathing in a pathetic attempt to ingratiate themselves with Black "activists". They do very little in the way of ministering to lay Roman Catholics. In the end they get their just desserts, the activists bankrupt their parishes and leave to find another sucker. I refuse to buy into this BS. The immigrants who built these parishes had very little money but they were givers. The people of Pfleger's flock are strictly takers. Don't try and put us on a guilt trip, Father, we don't have the fare. And please stop invoking Malcolm x. Malcolm X spent World War 2 hiding under his bed, while 16 MILLION American men and women served.
IRONBLUEEYES at 1:13PM on Jun 2nd 2008
71. "It is time for the idealists, even the aging ones, to raise the flag again.
NOT4HILLARY at 12:46PM on Jun 2nd 2008"
Amen. Amen. Amen, Amen.
brandon at 12:56PM on Jun 2nd 2008
72. NOT4HILLARY,
Be careful what you wish for, it's hard to trust an "idealist".
Mokele Mbembe at 12:58PM on Jun 2nd 2008
73. "The celebration of the murder of thousands of Egyptians children and babies".
Linda
As I recall, at the Seder there is a prayer for the Egyptian children killed because of Pharaoh’s obstinance. The Egyptians also killed thousands of Hebrew children. This was God's just punishment.
Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him… The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord
janesophie1 at 1:04PM on Jun 2nd 2008
74. What Matters - Edwin McCain
Did you forget about the passion living day to day
You keep our dreams locked down inside
Choking on a lifetime of never take a chance
Wake up one day wishin you tried
It aint about the money, it aint about the time
It aint about the love you lost or the things you think you left behind
It aint about your losing streak, makes you feel like youre falling apart
What matters is the heart
Lets forget about the notion that were not the same
My blood runs as red as yours
We all get angry, weve all been scared
Weve all made big mistakes that can never be repaired
It aint about the money, it aint about the time
It aint about the love you lost or the things you think you left behind
It aint about your losing streak, makes you feel like youre falling apart
What matters is the heart
Look me in the eye and take my hand
We can make a difference
We can make a difference I know we can
You forgot about the passion living day to day
You keep our dreams locked down inside
Choking on a lifetime of never take a chance
Wake up one day wishin you tried
It aint about the money, it aint about the time
It aint about the love you lost or the things you think you left behind
It aint about your losing streak, makes you feel like youre falling apart
What matters is the heart
It aint about the money, it aint about the time
It aint about the love you lost or the things you think you left behind
It aint about your losing streak, makes you feel like youre falling apart
What matters, what really matters
Is the heart
TJ at 1:17PM on Jun 2nd 2008
75. Why is there a need for "black Christianity, liberation theology, white theology, ad infinitum?
The gospel Christ preached liberates us from a life of sin and gives us something beyond ourselves and our own problems. There are those individuals who immediately line up with haters of Christianity when these arguments arise. The lesson so many of us, Christian and otherwise, miss is loving God with all our hearts, souls, and minds. The second "like unto it" is loving our neighbor as our selves. Our neighbors are members of the human race.
Denzil Minyard at 1:19PM on Jun 2nd 2008