What Does Obama See in Wright?
I seldom agree with Rod Dreher and hardly ever where religion intersects politics, but I think he asks the right question in today's blog post on The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog. Dreher references some of the "combustible, racialist rhetoric" of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's long-time pastor and spiritual mentor. Dreher asks, rightly, what does Obama see in this man? Obama says he doesn't agree with everything Wright says, but there's just so much to disagree with, that that attitude by Obama doesn't go far enough. Obama should either reject and denounce the man altogether or do a better job of introducing the good qualities of his pastor to Americans, so they can see in this man what Obama apparently does. Because so far, there's not much good that Americans are getting to see. The thought that this man is Obama's mentor does not sit well.
1 comment:
According to Unfair Park's Julie Lyon's, Obama told a church audience the following. It goes a long ways towards explaining why Obama feels a certain loyalty towards Rev. Wright in spiritual matters, even if he repudiates Wright's politics:
“…[D]uring the course of that sermon, he introduced me to someone named Jesus Christ. I learned that my sins could be redeemed. I learned that those things I was too weak to accomplish myself, He would accomplish with me if I placed my trust in Him. And in time, I came to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active palpable agent in the world and in my own life.
“It was because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity one day and affirm my Christian faith. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. I didn’t fall out in church, as folks sometimes do. The questions I had didn’t magically disappear. The skeptical bent of my mind didn’t suddenly vanish. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt I heard God’s spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth and carrying out His works.”
Post a Comment