I've Been Called Out!

Virginia Matt called me out in an earlier posting about Jeremiah Wright.  Well I accept his challenge to explain myself.

I don't particularly agree with Rev. Wright's theological opinions.  His sermons, at least in my humble opinion, show a lack of nuance in interpreting and expounding upon Scripture.  Moreover, lots of things he say smack of the "soft racism of low expectations" which so many folks talk about and yet do nothing about.

However, there are a few points in his defense:

1. He knows his audience.  And members of his congregation at the United Church of Christ in Chicago certainly liked him.  Listen to the cheering in the background of his sermons.  A lot of folks listening to him not only listened, but actively agreed with him.  So, he must be really tapping into something.  We should take note that a lot of people agree with him, despite whatever our own personal misgivings might be.
2. If you strip away the rhetoric, he does raise some really good points.  What exactly does make a patriot?  Why haven't we actually apologized officially for slavery?  How come he gets national treatment from the media, but these fools at Bob Jones University get nearly free passes?  How many media folks who criticized his sermons actually listened to them in their entirety?  
3. Doesn't he have the Wright (a ha ha ha!) to say what he wants?  And isn't it the media's fault that he's getting so much face time.  I think most of America fails to understand the importance that historically "black" churches have within the inner city.  People complain about there being no community centers where young people of color can go instead of being on the streets all the time.  From that need, mega-churches such as the UCC grow.  It's an organic process.  After these congregations/churches/organizations pop up, folks not in them get upset at what they preach and how they preach it.  It's the same reality that the US foreign policy has reaped.  Hey rest of the world, here's democracy!  But no, don't vote for him.  He doesn't like the good old U S of A!  In this sense, the "chickens have come home to roost."
4. As for the comments regarding 9/11, at first glance they are disgusting.  But, in all reality, isn't there a small bit of truth which we have collectively chosen to ignore?  There is a reason these people hate us.  It has a lot to do with our culture and a lot to do with our foreign policy.  Can we really deny that we provided weapons to Sadaam?  Can we honestly state that we didn't arm the Afghanis against the Ruskies and then drop them as soon as they had served their purpose to us?

In sum, I don't particularly like Rev. Jeremiah Wright.  In fact, I wouldn't even refer to him as a reverend.  Men of God are supposed to preach the message of God.  And yet, I can't help but see him as a tragic example of many of the racial divides that still split the nation.  In other words, because of many failures of both Democrats and Republicans in the past 70 years, we are now reaping Jeremiah Wright, which we have so unfortunately sown through the rise of the welfare state, institutionalized racism and a series of foolish, and half-hearted attempts to fix these two large mistakes.