The black church has always had a liberatory component to it. Not a single AME or black Baptist church in America would reject this statement. So they don't use the church for the purpose of bashing gay people and instead seeking social justice for its members. That's radical? No, that's Christianity.

Proud, black Christians. Yeah, that's pretty scandalous.

Thanks for the post Senator Corker. Can you find out from former President Clinton if the Rev. Jesse Jackson preaches there?

I hope if "this" congregation actually gets a president they don't actually do anything to help their "native land". We know the people in Darfur or the Sudan don't need any attention.

Give me a break.

(link...)

One of the voters I registered ask me about Obama & religion & pledgeing to the flag & so forth.

The voter's grandmother had heard about these e mails @ church.

The voter voted Obama

At least it puts the "Muslim" rumors to rest.

I think some of the outrage is a part that is no longer listed. You can see it if you search the archives ((link...)). It appears to have been removed on March 29. I think the concern was if you substituted WHITE for BLACK, then the person would be considered a racist.

I just wanted to fill in information that the church has removed from its site that I think was what most people were previously talking about.

Trinity United Church of Christ adopted the Black Value System written by the Manford Byrd Recognition Committee chaired by Vallmer Jordan in 1981. We believe in the following 12 precepts and covenantal statements. These Black Ethics must be taught and exemplified in homes, churches, nurseries and schools, wherever Blacks are gathered. They must reflect on the following concepts:

1. Commitment to God
2. Commitment to the Black Community
3. Commitment to the Black Family
4. Dedication to the Pursuit of Education
5. Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence
6. Adherence to the Black Work Ethic
7. Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
8. Disavowal of the Pursuit of "Middleclassness"
9. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the Black Community
10. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting Black Institutions
11. Pledge allegiance to all Black leadership who espouse and embrace the Black Value System
12. Personal commitment to embracement of the Black Value System.

Craig Thomas
blog.craigdthomas.com

I found this and can't do an FPP but wanted to share. It's kind of "racism from the other side" for sure, not like that cdthomas23 tripe above.

Linky Goodness

Jewish Rep. Cohen Battles Antisemitism and Racism In Re-Election

If you thought race was an uncomfortable issue in the Democratic presidential primary, wait 'til you get a load of what's going on in the Democratic primary in the Memphis area's 9th District of Tennessee, where a shockingly worded flier paints Jewish Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) as a Jesus hater.

"Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen and the JEWS HATE Jesus," blares the flier, which Cohen himself received in the mail -- inducing gasps -- last week.

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
Hunter S. Thompson

Just to clear up what I said, at no point did I say I agreed or disagreed. I just filled in extra facts that had been removed from the website and the complaints people were making.

Craig Thomas
blog.craigdthomas.com

So you say Obama supporters are products of a "pop culture dumbed down society"?

Given the rest of your post, that's like being called ugly by an ape. If you get my 'dirrection.'

Why is it if a white church had the same critera as Obama's church, it would be labelled racist and probably dismantled, yet a black church gets the green light....I'm so tired of this double standard in America where black exclusivity is deemed a good trait while white exclusivity is a crime...
Quite frankly, any organization pledging allegiance to a country other than the one they are a citizen of should MOVE TO THAT COUNTRY!!

In a lot of churches the pastor/founder controls things and decides how the church is run.That's true of Hagee's church and was true of Fallwell's church, Pat Roberson's church and a lot of churches. Obama doesn't run that church.He doesn't decide how it operates or what it says.
So in my view it's republican red herring.

Obama doesn't run that church.He doesn't decide how it operates or what it says.

What a bunch of garbage. He chose to go there for twenty years, chose to get married there, and chose to have his children baptized there.

He could have walked out, joined another church, joined no church, and left the church at any time. He chose to stay.

He had Rev. Wright on a campaign advisory committee. His book title was the title of one of Rev. Wright's sermons.

Obama claims to be a Christian. That's fine. But the Christians I know get guidance from somewhere, mainly their church.

So it's a legitimate question: As a Christian, where does Obama get his guidance from? His church? Somewhere, or something else?

The same people who are outraged by any Republican's association with the Bob Jones University or Liberty Baptist, turn their heads when the politician is a leftie.

Nobody profits by this kind of circus atmosphere.

As Beanster so wisely said, "Anyone who tries to dismiss the historical role of the black church in the centuries-long battle with institutional racism is willfully stupid or has his/her own agenda."

There's a cultural context to this. Rev. Wright's energetic rhetoric was over-the-top and certainly not sensitive, especially in the wake of 9/11. But it wasn't what he said really. Plenty of white people with contolled voices and academic language pretty much blamed America's swaggering disregard towards Muslims for the evil hatred that grew in Osama bin Laden's heart.

Rev. Wright's entire religious profession should not (and cannot), as his predecessor put it, "be summed up in a couple of 60 second sound bytes". The man has been honored for decades for his work within the black community. I'm sure he has brought many people to Jesus, and he promotes family values.

Barack Obama had it right when he said that Rev. Wright's generation grew up under somewhat different circumstances. The Jim Crow era was shameful and those men saw many atrocities. They fought hard trying to get the community to where it is today. To expect them to have no residual anger and outrage is unrealistic.

Veteran's of all wars deserve to be respected. Dr. Wright fought two wars, one as a Marine and the other as a civil rights leader. Is it any wonder Obama respects his ex-minister even when his sermons reflect anger about the past and concern about the current problems facing African Americans today?

Barack Obama is a gentle, even-tempered man with a social conscience that transcends color. He loves America and has struggled hard to serve her in the political arena. If Rev. Wright helped shape and transform him, as Obama passionately insists he did, then I guess that speaks volumes.

It's good enough for me.