Rev. Wright: Media Used Me As "Weapon of Mass Destruction"

[sabra]

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-wright1107.artnov07,0,1909962.story

<snip>

Wright, pastor emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, delivered a scholarly but humorous address on "The Bible, Race and American History" during a panel discussion at Kingdom Life Christian Church sponsored by the Theological Education Institute of Hartford.

During questions after his talk, Wright lamented the controversy last spring during which short segments of his sermons were endlessly replayed on cable news shows, eventually leading to Obama repudiating his pastor and announcing that he was leaving Trinity Church. In those statements Wright said that America should be called "US of KKKA" and encouraged African Americans to say not "God Bless America," but instead "God Damn America."

"The world doesn't know about my 41 years of ministry, or my writing of books, because it was all taken down to a 10-second sound bite that the media chose to show about a sermon that was delivered seven years ago," Wright said. "The media didn't care about the whole sermon and what it was about. They just used those 10 seconds and used it as a weapon of mass destruction against {Obama's} campaign."

...

Wright avoided direct references to Obama in his prepared talk but brought him up in response to several questions from the audience.

"My biggest fear is that we will take what's just happened in this country and think a whole lot has changed," Wright said.

"If you take a Tiger Woods, a Michael Jordan or a Barack Obama, their success should not lull us into thinking society has changed." Obama joined Wright's church 21 years ago while a young community organizer in Chicago's South Side. In his memoirs, Obama said Wright gave him a religious grounding and welcomed him to the Chicago community.

[msongs]

1. more like a weapon of "mouth" destruction - it's all about him all the time lol nt

[ej510]

4. Wright has his but he is for helping the poor, and he is for gay rights.

[blueclown]

2. Wright is an idiot.

Does he want his church's tax exempt status revoked? Then shut up and stop bringing politics and hate into the pulpit.

[keith the dem]

5. I think you are wrong

Read the article, this was in response to a question. And he is totally correct. Find anybody who has decades of sermons recorded, It would not be hard to find a few seconds of out of context statements that sound crazy.

Rev. Wright has been an incredible positive force for the City of Chicago and for the predominately white United Church of Christ.

[jefferson_dem]

3. Oh, Reverend. Knock that fucking chip off you shoulder

...and celebrate this landmark election result.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

6. He compares individual athletes to a man who won a massive Presidential electoral victory.

Bzzzt. Things have indeed changed.