Obama's pastor and spiritual advisor, Jeremiah Wright, runs a church
that seems more a black advocacy group than a church. He was, at least at
one time associated with Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam.
It appears that he preaches more about the advancement of blacks than about God
and Christ. When did Christianity ever make a distinction between people
of different races? Not until the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright founded
the Trinity United Church of Christ. After reading the information
provided on the church website, you have to wonder why he elected to include the
word "United" in the name of his church. United with who, Africa?
It's certainly not white Americans he is untied with.
"We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically
Christian... Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are
deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain "true to our
native land," the mother continent, the cradle of civilization. God has
superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of
segregation, and the long night of racism. It is God who gives us the strength
and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a
congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural
expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black
Community."
The Pastor as well as the membership of Trinity United Church of Christ is
committed to a 10-point Vision:
- A congregation committed to ADORATION.
- A congregation preaching SALVATION.
- A congregation actively seeking RECONCILIATION.
- A congregation with a non-negotiable COMMITMENT TO
AFRICA.
- A congregation committed to BIBLICAL EDUCATION.
- A congregation committed to CULTURAL EDUCATION.
- A congregation committed to the HISTORICAL EDUCATION OF AFRICAN
PEOPLE IN DIASPORA.
- A congregation committed to LIBERATION.
- A congregation committed to RESTORATION.
- A congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY.
"Dr. Wright’s talking points (3.1.7) for Trinity United Church of Christ
its Web site and the Black Value System (in response to Erik Rush’s comments
(2.28.07) on the Hannity and Colmes show):
• One of the biggest gaps in knowledge that causes the kind of ignorance
that you hear spouted by this man [Erik Rush] and those like him, has to do
with the fact that these persons are completely ignorant when it comes to the
Black religious tradition. The vision statement of Trinity United Church of
Christ is based upon the systematized liberation theology that started in 1969
with the publication of Dr. James Cone’s book, Black Power and Black
Theology.
• Black theology is one of the many theologies in the Americas that became
popular during the liberation theology movement. They include Hispanic
theology, Native American theology, Asian theology and Womanist theology.
• I use the word “systematized” because Black liberation theology was in
existence long before Dr. Cone’s book. It originates in the days of the
Trans-Atlantic slave trade. It was systematized and published by theologians,
Old Testament scholars, New Testament scholars, ethicists, church historians,
and historians of religion such as Dr. James Cone, Dr. Cain Hope Felder, Dr.
Gayraud Wilmore, Dr. Jacqueline Grant, Dr. Kelley Brown Douglas, Dr. Renita
Weems, Dr. Katie Cannon, Dr. Dwight Hopkins, Dr. Linda Thomas, and Dr. Randall
Bailey.
• These scholars, who write in various disciplines, also include seminary
presidents like Dr. John Kinney and professors of Hebrew Bible, like Dr.
Jerome Ross. Black liberation theology defines Africans and African Americans
as subjects – not the objects which colonizers and oppressors have
consistently defined “others” as.
• We [African Americans] were always seen as objects. When we started
defining ourselves, it scared those who try to control others by naming them
and defining them for them; Oppressors do not like “others” defining
themselves.
• To have a church whose theological perspective starts from the vantage
point of Black liberation theology being its center, is not to say that
African or African American people are superior to any one else.
• African-centered thought, unlike Eurocentrism, does not assume
superiority and look at everyone else as being inferior.
• There is more than one center from which to view the world. In the words
of Dr. Janice Hale, “Difference does not mean deficience.” It is from this
vantage point that Black liberation theology speaks.
• Systematized Black liberation theology is 40 years old. Scholars of
African and African American religious history show that Black liberation
theology, however, has been in existence for 400 years. It is found in the
songs, the sermons, the testimonies and the oral literature of Africans
throughout the Diaspora."
