Thousands of Faith Organizations to Participate in National Celebrations of Children's Sabbaths®
Children's Defense Fund's sponsors the 17th annual Observance
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Thousands of faith communities across the country will take part in the Children's Defense Fund's (CDF) 17th annual National Observance of Children's Sabbaths® Celebration beginning October 17 through the end of the month. The theme of this year’s Children’s Sabbaths, which asks “When Will We Hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Call to End Poverty America?" will be carried out through the service of worship and prayers.
Churches, synagogues, mosques, Buddhist and Bahá'í communities and other places of worship will hold special services and education programs using CDF's National Observance of Children's Sabbaths Manual as a guide. The manual includes resources for worship services, educational programs, direct service activities and social justice initiatives to guide faith communities in year-round child and family advocacy and in celebrating the Children's Sabbaths weekend.
"Though every Children's Sabbath celebration is unique, they all come together as a unified prophetic voice to nurture, protect and advocate for all children in America," said Matt Rosen, Children's Defense Fund Deputy Director of Religious Action. "Participating religious communities continue the strong tradition of engaging in social justice by joining this powerful movement. Every step the faith community takes to improve the lives of its children will improve the lives of every one of us."
The multi-faith National Observance of Children's Sabbaths Celebrations are sponsored by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Children's Defense Fund and supported by Catholic Charities U.S.A, the Islamic Society of Northern America, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., the National Spiritual Assembly of Bahá'ís in the U.S., the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, the Union for Reform Judaism, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and more than 200 religious organizations and denominations.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
ANDREW YOUNG KEYNOTES DIVERSITY AND INTERFAITH SUMMIT
Andrew Young is Keynote Speaker for the 2008 National Diversity and Interfaith Summit in September 10-13 in Huntsville, Alabama. The three and a half day summit on "Globalizing Human Values--Resolving Conflict in a Pluralistic World" will bring together will include a series of lectures, panel discussions and breakout sessions.
This 3 and 1/2 day summit brings individuals together from across the country for lectures, panel discussions and breakout sessions addressing human values from different faith and cultural perspectives.
Young, the former U.S. Congressman and former Mayor of Atlanta, also will be featured at a reception. The long-time champion of civil rights and is namesake of Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.
Other Summit speakers include well-known experts in the fields of human values, diversity and spirituality:
*William Miller, author and internationally recognized expert on values-driven innovation for businesses;
* Debra Miller, co-founder of the Global Dharma Center which focuses on spirituality in leadership and work;
*Professor Yehezkel Landau, lecturer on Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations and Middle East peace issues;
*Elizabeth Kiss, president of Agnes Scott College, former founding director of the Kenan Institute;
*Dr. K.L.Sheshagiri Rao, chief editor, Encyclopedia Hinduism, Professor Emeritus at University of Virginia;
*Deborah Levine, editor of the American Diversity Report, Founder of the Women's Council on Diversity;
*Cynthia McCollum, president of the National League of Cities. Additional speakers will represent the National Holocaust Museum, Aga Khan Foundation and the Interfaith Youth Corp.
"Over time, we've gotten away from human values in our lives," said Laj Utreja, chair of the Summit. "Those in power have sought more and more while showing less and less regard for the other person -- leading to misunderstandings, and social and economic disparities. Before we reach the tipping point, we want to reintroduce the practice of human values in our conduct in business, in education, and at home."
The event is sponsored by Interfaith Mission Service, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama Faith Council, One Huntsville Diversity Coalition, and Multicultural Center.
Since 1969, Interfaith Mission Service has united congregations and communities of many beliefs and traditions including Baha'i, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian, Church of Religious Science, Buddhism, Hinduism, and New Thought. This Huntsville, Alabama organization is based on the philosophy that diversity should be celebrated, and that working together, people of faith can meet community needs that individual congregations may find difficult to address on their own.
Andrew Young is Keynote Speaker for the 2008 National Diversity and Interfaith Summit in September 10-13 in Huntsville, Alabama. The three and a half day summit on "Globalizing Human Values--Resolving Conflict in a Pluralistic World" will bring together will include a series of lectures, panel discussions and breakout sessions.
This 3 and 1/2 day summit brings individuals together from across the country for lectures, panel discussions and breakout sessions addressing human values from different faith and cultural perspectives.
Young, the former U.S. Congressman and former Mayor of Atlanta, also will be featured at a reception. The long-time champion of civil rights and is namesake of Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.
Other Summit speakers include well-known experts in the fields of human values, diversity and spirituality:
*William Miller, author and internationally recognized expert on values-driven innovation for businesses;
* Debra Miller, co-founder of the Global Dharma Center which focuses on spirituality in leadership and work;
*Professor Yehezkel Landau, lecturer on Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations and Middle East peace issues;
*Elizabeth Kiss, president of Agnes Scott College, former founding director of the Kenan Institute;
*Dr. K.L.Sheshagiri Rao, chief editor, Encyclopedia Hinduism, Professor Emeritus at University of Virginia;
*Deborah Levine, editor of the American Diversity Report, Founder of the Women's Council on Diversity;
*Cynthia McCollum, president of the National League of Cities. Additional speakers will represent the National Holocaust Museum, Aga Khan Foundation and the Interfaith Youth Corp.
"Over time, we've gotten away from human values in our lives," said Laj Utreja, chair of the Summit. "Those in power have sought more and more while showing less and less regard for the other person -- leading to misunderstandings, and social and economic disparities. Before we reach the tipping point, we want to reintroduce the practice of human values in our conduct in business, in education, and at home."
The event is sponsored by Interfaith Mission Service, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama Faith Council, One Huntsville Diversity Coalition, and Multicultural Center.
Since 1969, Interfaith Mission Service has united congregations and communities of many beliefs and traditions including Baha'i, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Unitarian, Church of Religious Science, Buddhism, Hinduism, and New Thought. This Huntsville, Alabama organization is based on the philosophy that diversity should be celebrated, and that working together, people of faith can meet community needs that individual congregations may find difficult to address on their own.
National Baptist Convention, USA
takes on questions about Moral Decisions
What are the imperatives that guide all moral decisions? What are the lenses through which we look, the framework around which we build in order to come to ways of thinking and acting that are in conformity with and acceptable to the will of God for us and all of God’s creation?
These are among the questions that will be raised by Dr. William J. Shaw, President of the National Baptist Convention, USA in an address at the 128th Annual Session in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sept. 8-12 at the Duke Energy Center.
“The primary reference to morals is not to the misbehavior of Church persons,” said Shaw, whose address represents the third of four annual themes—Message, Music, Morals and Mission. Shaw points out that much of current religious and popular culture in America defines morality as dealing essentially with issue of abortion, same sex behavior, and babies born outside of marriage. “But are these the only arenas of moral attention,” he asks.
Dr. Shaw suggests otherwise. “The law surely sets standards for conduct—specific prohibitions and sometimes prescriptions for actions. But law is rarely comprehensive enough to cover all areas AND deals really and only with actions, not attitudes.”
In his convention speech Dr. Shaw seeks to answer questions like: “Are the arenas of justice, of economic securities and sufficiency of corporate or individual greed outside the domain of morality? How does the faith of the church speak to theses matters, informing our conscience and guiding our behavior?
Dr. Shaw says the “love ethic” is the basis of moral decision-making. It makes morality become more than a matter of lifeless, limited legality. “It becomes a powerful dynamic that keeps us alert to the connectedness, the relatedness of all of our lives and decisions. Through this connectedness and relatedness we experience true and full life, a growing, expansive life.
Pointing out that the supreme model of God’s love for us is revealed in the crucified Christ, Dr. Shaw says, “I pray that we will be challenged to look at the moral life through the lens of God’s love.”
He concludes that “As Baptists, we believe that the Bible is the Word of God and the Jesus is the Word made flesh. We believe that the Bible is the norm for faith and practice and that Jesus is the full revelation of the heart and mind of God towards and for all.
“Jesus presented the love ethic—love the Lord your God with the totality of yourself and love others as yourselves—as the greatest and summary imperative of all righteousness. The love ethic becomes the lens through which we see more clearly the totality of scripture, of how we relate to God and to one another in a fashion that affirms the primacy of God in our lives and decisions.”
Pointing out that the supreme model of God’s love for us is revealed in the crucified Christ, Dr. Shaw says, “I pray that we will be challenged to look at the moral life through the lens of God’s love.”
###
takes on questions about Moral Decisions
What are the imperatives that guide all moral decisions? What are the lenses through which we look, the framework around which we build in order to come to ways of thinking and acting that are in conformity with and acceptable to the will of God for us and all of God’s creation?
These are among the questions that will be raised by Dr. William J. Shaw, President of the National Baptist Convention, USA in an address at the 128th Annual Session in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sept. 8-12 at the Duke Energy Center.
“The primary reference to morals is not to the misbehavior of Church persons,” said Shaw, whose address represents the third of four annual themes—Message, Music, Morals and Mission. Shaw points out that much of current religious and popular culture in America defines morality as dealing essentially with issue of abortion, same sex behavior, and babies born outside of marriage. “But are these the only arenas of moral attention,” he asks.
Dr. Shaw suggests otherwise. “The law surely sets standards for conduct—specific prohibitions and sometimes prescriptions for actions. But law is rarely comprehensive enough to cover all areas AND deals really and only with actions, not attitudes.”
In his convention speech Dr. Shaw seeks to answer questions like: “Are the arenas of justice, of economic securities and sufficiency of corporate or individual greed outside the domain of morality? How does the faith of the church speak to theses matters, informing our conscience and guiding our behavior?
Dr. Shaw says the “love ethic” is the basis of moral decision-making. It makes morality become more than a matter of lifeless, limited legality. “It becomes a powerful dynamic that keeps us alert to the connectedness, the relatedness of all of our lives and decisions. Through this connectedness and relatedness we experience true and full life, a growing, expansive life.
Pointing out that the supreme model of God’s love for us is revealed in the crucified Christ, Dr. Shaw says, “I pray that we will be challenged to look at the moral life through the lens of God’s love.”
He concludes that “As Baptists, we believe that the Bible is the Word of God and the Jesus is the Word made flesh. We believe that the Bible is the norm for faith and practice and that Jesus is the full revelation of the heart and mind of God towards and for all.
“Jesus presented the love ethic—love the Lord your God with the totality of yourself and love others as yourselves—as the greatest and summary imperative of all righteousness. The love ethic becomes the lens through which we see more clearly the totality of scripture, of how we relate to God and to one another in a fashion that affirms the primacy of God in our lives and decisions.”
Pointing out that the supreme model of God’s love for us is revealed in the crucified Christ, Dr. Shaw says, “I pray that we will be challenged to look at the moral life through the lens of God’s love.”
###
Monday, August 25, 2008
More Americans Question Religion's Role in Politics :
Views of conservatives now more in line with those of moderates and liberals on this issue
Washington, D.C.— Churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters and not express their views on day-to-day social and political matters, according to a new national survey.
The survey of 2,905 adults was conducted from July 31-Aug. 10 by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Findings reveal that some Americans are having a change of heart about mixing religion and politics. Most of the reconsideration has occurred among conservatives. Today 50 percent of conservatives express the view that churches and other houses of worship should stay out of politics, compared to just 30 percent four years ago.
The study also found that previously existing sharp divisions between Republicans and Democrats on the issue have disappeared. Since 2004 the percentage of respondents saying they are uncomfortable when they hear politicians speaking about how religious they are has increased from 40 percent to 46 percent.
While the Republican Party is most often seen as the party friendly toward religion, the Democratic Party has made gains in this area,” the study found. Specifically, nearly four-in-ten or 38 percent now say the Democratic Party is generally friendly toward religion, up from just 26 percent two years ago. At the same time, considerably more people, namely 52 percent, continue to view the GOP as friendly toward religion.
The survey also finds increasing numbers of Americans believing that religiously defined ideological groups have too much control over the parties themselves. Nearly half of the respondents, or 48 percent, say religious conservatives have too much influence over the Republican Party, up from 43 percent in August 2007. At the same time, more people say that liberals who are not religious, (43 percent) have too much sway over the Democrats than did so last year (37 percent). Other findings and the complete survey are available at http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=334
Meanwhile, a recent survey conducted by Wilson Research Strategies found that more than half of the Christians in America believe religious freedom should be a high priority in crafting U.S. foreign policy.
The study shows that 96 percent of respondents believe strongly that religious freedom is a basic human right, and that more than eight in 10 believe it is a very important basic right.
"The findings of this study demonstrate that Senators McCain and Obama must address the issue of religious freedom in their foreign policy positions if they are intent on winning the vote of faithful Christians," said Carl Moeller, president and chief executive officer of Open Doors USA.
"Open Doors commissioned this study to try to understand what Christians in America feel about religious freedom. Clearly, it is a priority,” said Moeller.
Among respondents 54 percent of U.S. Christians polled consider religious freedom an important issue in making U.S. foreign policy, according to the survey commissioned by Open Doors USA, a Christian ministry that has served persecuted Christians around the globe for more than half a century.
“The persecution of Christians in the world today is on the rise, with an estimated 100 million suffering some sort of repression and even death for their faith," Moeller said.*
The study also found that this issue is a high priority for those who attend church most frequently (60 percent) compared with those Christians who never attend (40 percent). Those who feel most strongly about the issue are women who frequently attend church. Ninety-one percent believe it is a very important issue.
The strongest support among Christian groups came from Baptists, Lutherans, nondenominational/independent churches, and charismatics. The weakest group support came from Catholics, Presbyterians and Episcopalians. Of special interest is the finding that 98 percent of frequent listeners to Christian radio believe strongly that religious freedom is a basic human right.
Respondents did not believe that direct intervention should form our religious freedom foreign policy. Instead, they favored the U.S. using more indirect policies, such as economic sanctions (20 percent) and diplomatic measures to pressure persecuting regimes rather than having the U.S. directly intervene. See full study at http://www.opendoorusa.org/.
Wilson Research Strategies was commissioned to conduct a research study of 1,000 Christian adults nationwide. A sample of 1,000 has a margin of error of ±3.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. The study was conducted by telephone May 27-29, 2008. This sampling represents 72 percent of the United States population, which is equal to roughly 150.5 million people who call themselves Christians. Christians in this study were defined as people who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that by believing that He died for their sins they have eternal life. All respondents were contacted via Random Digit Dialing methodology. The sample was stratified by key demographics, including age, gender and area in order to representatively measure the United States' Christian population at large.
*An estimated 100 million Christians worldwide suffer interrogation, arrest and even death for their faith in Christ, with millions more facing discrimination and alienation. Open Doors supports and strengthens believers in the world's most difficult areas through Bible and Christian literature distribution, leadership training and assistance, Christian community development, prayer and presence ministry and advocacy on behalf of suffering believers. To partner with Open Doors USA, call toll free at 888-5-BIBLE-5 (888-524-2535) or go to their website at http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org
Views of conservatives now more in line with those of moderates and liberals on this issue
Washington, D.C.— Churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters and not express their views on day-to-day social and political matters, according to a new national survey.
The survey of 2,905 adults was conducted from July 31-Aug. 10 by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Findings reveal that some Americans are having a change of heart about mixing religion and politics. Most of the reconsideration has occurred among conservatives. Today 50 percent of conservatives express the view that churches and other houses of worship should stay out of politics, compared to just 30 percent four years ago.
The study also found that previously existing sharp divisions between Republicans and Democrats on the issue have disappeared. Since 2004 the percentage of respondents saying they are uncomfortable when they hear politicians speaking about how religious they are has increased from 40 percent to 46 percent.
While the Republican Party is most often seen as the party friendly toward religion, the Democratic Party has made gains in this area,” the study found. Specifically, nearly four-in-ten or 38 percent now say the Democratic Party is generally friendly toward religion, up from just 26 percent two years ago. At the same time, considerably more people, namely 52 percent, continue to view the GOP as friendly toward religion.
The survey also finds increasing numbers of Americans believing that religiously defined ideological groups have too much control over the parties themselves. Nearly half of the respondents, or 48 percent, say religious conservatives have too much influence over the Republican Party, up from 43 percent in August 2007. At the same time, more people say that liberals who are not religious, (43 percent) have too much sway over the Democrats than did so last year (37 percent). Other findings and the complete survey are available at http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=334
Meanwhile, a recent survey conducted by Wilson Research Strategies found that more than half of the Christians in America believe religious freedom should be a high priority in crafting U.S. foreign policy.
The study shows that 96 percent of respondents believe strongly that religious freedom is a basic human right, and that more than eight in 10 believe it is a very important basic right.
"The findings of this study demonstrate that Senators McCain and Obama must address the issue of religious freedom in their foreign policy positions if they are intent on winning the vote of faithful Christians," said Carl Moeller, president and chief executive officer of Open Doors USA.
"Open Doors commissioned this study to try to understand what Christians in America feel about religious freedom. Clearly, it is a priority,” said Moeller.
Among respondents 54 percent of U.S. Christians polled consider religious freedom an important issue in making U.S. foreign policy, according to the survey commissioned by Open Doors USA, a Christian ministry that has served persecuted Christians around the globe for more than half a century.
“The persecution of Christians in the world today is on the rise, with an estimated 100 million suffering some sort of repression and even death for their faith," Moeller said.*
The study also found that this issue is a high priority for those who attend church most frequently (60 percent) compared with those Christians who never attend (40 percent). Those who feel most strongly about the issue are women who frequently attend church. Ninety-one percent believe it is a very important issue.
The strongest support among Christian groups came from Baptists, Lutherans, nondenominational/independent churches, and charismatics. The weakest group support came from Catholics, Presbyterians and Episcopalians. Of special interest is the finding that 98 percent of frequent listeners to Christian radio believe strongly that religious freedom is a basic human right.
Respondents did not believe that direct intervention should form our religious freedom foreign policy. Instead, they favored the U.S. using more indirect policies, such as economic sanctions (20 percent) and diplomatic measures to pressure persecuting regimes rather than having the U.S. directly intervene. See full study at http://www.opendoorusa.org/.
Wilson Research Strategies was commissioned to conduct a research study of 1,000 Christian adults nationwide. A sample of 1,000 has a margin of error of ±3.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. The study was conducted by telephone May 27-29, 2008. This sampling represents 72 percent of the United States population, which is equal to roughly 150.5 million people who call themselves Christians. Christians in this study were defined as people who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that by believing that He died for their sins they have eternal life. All respondents were contacted via Random Digit Dialing methodology. The sample was stratified by key demographics, including age, gender and area in order to representatively measure the United States' Christian population at large.
*An estimated 100 million Christians worldwide suffer interrogation, arrest and even death for their faith in Christ, with millions more facing discrimination and alienation. Open Doors supports and strengthens believers in the world's most difficult areas through Bible and Christian literature distribution, leadership training and assistance, Christian community development, prayer and presence ministry and advocacy on behalf of suffering believers. To partner with Open Doors USA, call toll free at 888-5-BIBLE-5 (888-524-2535) or go to their website at http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org
Thursday, July 31, 2008
LCMS Black Ministry Convocation Held in D.C. area in July
LCMSNews
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod will convene its Black Ministry Family Convocation at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Va. July 31 to August 3 under the theme “Radiating the Flame” from Jeremiah 20:9. The convocation, which is expected to attract more than 600 participants, will include daily worships services, business sessions, inspirational messages and performances by Lutheran choirs and musicians.
This is the first Black Ministry Family Convocation to be held in the Washington, D.C., area, even though the nation’s capital is rich in African American history and has a strong LCMS Black-ministry population, according to Dr. Phillip Campbell, executive director of the Board for Black Ministry Services, which sponsors the biennial gatherings.
Workshop topics include: Loving Parents, Loving Dads, Conversational Evangelism, Vacant—and Still Ablaze, Walking the Talk: Lessons in Outreach, The Role of a Deaconess, and Addressing Conflict and Disagreements in the Church Family
Worship services will be led by Dr. Yohannes Mengsteab, national director for new mission fields development with LCMS World Mission, and Dr. Frazier Odom, mentor pastor of Great Commission Lutheran Church in St. Louis.
Keynote speaker for the four-day convocation is Gill Hill, former president of the Detroit City Council and a former Detroit police detective who played the role of Inspector Todd in the “Beverly Hills Cop” films. LCMS First Vice President William Diekelman, will speak on the convocation theme and bring words of encouragement to participants.
Comedian Sean Sarvis of Fort Washington, Md., and a dance and drama troupe from Peace Lutheran Church, Washington, D.C., will provide entertainment at the Friday night banquet.
A separate youth program for junior-high and high-school students will offer Bible studies, fellowship activities, and a trip to Six Flags amusement park in Largo, Md.
Pre-convocation sessions for educators, Black ministry district leaders, and pastors serving Black ministries will be offered July 30-31.
For more information, or to register online, visit the Board for Black Ministry Services Web site at http://blackministry.lcms.org/. Or, contact the Synod's Black Ministry office in St. Louis at (800) 248-1930, Ext. 1751, or black.ministry@lcms.org mailto:black.ministry@lcms.org .
Dr. Phillip A. Campbell
Executive Director
Board for Black Ministry Services
Dr. Campbell's primary focus is the expansion of Black Ministry in The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.Campbell holds a BA in Philosophy from Concordia Senior College, Ft. Wayne, IN; a Masters in Divinity from Concordia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, MO; and a Doctorate in Divinity from Howard University, Washington, DC.
He has written two books--Future Family, Ethical Directives f or African Americans and Others, and "Dare to Dream, Dare to Do."Campbell, who has received many honors and awards, has served in urban parishes for more than 20 years: Berea Lutheran Church, Baltimore, MD; Our Savior Lutheran Church, Indianapolis, IN; and St. John Lutheran Church, Detroit, MI.
He has also served as instructor of philosophy at Coppin State College, Baltimore, MD; Martin Center University, Indianapolis, IN; Concordia University, Ann Arbor, MI; and also Systematic Theology instructor for Concordia Theological Seminary's Delto program at Concordia College, Selma, AL.
Rev. Campbell and his wife Rose have three sons, Phillip, Yari and Matthew and three beautiful granddaughters, Ariel, Zenia and Kiuanna.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod will convene its Black Ministry Family Convocation at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Va. July 31 to August 3 under the theme “Radiating the Flame” from Jeremiah 20:9. The convocation, which is expected to attract more than 600 participants, will include daily worships services, business sessions, inspirational messages and performances by Lutheran choirs and musicians.
This is the first Black Ministry Family Convocation to be held in the Washington, D.C., area, even though the nation’s capital is rich in African American history and has a strong LCMS Black-ministry population, according to Dr. Phillip Campbell, executive director of the Board for Black Ministry Services, which sponsors the biennial gatherings.
Workshop topics include: Loving Parents, Loving Dads, Conversational Evangelism, Vacant—and Still Ablaze, Walking the Talk: Lessons in Outreach, The Role of a Deaconess, and Addressing Conflict and Disagreements in the Church Family
Worship services will be led by Dr. Yohannes Mengsteab, national director for new mission fields development with LCMS World Mission, and Dr. Frazier Odom, mentor pastor of Great Commission Lutheran Church in St. Louis.
Keynote speaker for the four-day convocation is Gill Hill, former president of the Detroit City Council and a former Detroit police detective who played the role of Inspector Todd in the “Beverly Hills Cop” films. LCMS First Vice President William Diekelman, will speak on the convocation theme and bring words of encouragement to participants.
Comedian Sean Sarvis of Fort Washington, Md., and a dance and drama troupe from Peace Lutheran Church, Washington, D.C., will provide entertainment at the Friday night banquet.
A separate youth program for junior-high and high-school students will offer Bible studies, fellowship activities, and a trip to Six Flags amusement park in Largo, Md.
Pre-convocation sessions for educators, Black ministry district leaders, and pastors serving Black ministries will be offered July 30-31.
For more information, or to register online, visit the Board for Black Ministry Services Web site at http://blackministry.lcms.org/. Or, contact the Synod's Black Ministry office in St. Louis at (800) 248-1930, Ext. 1751, or black.ministry@lcms.org mailto:black.ministry@lcms.org .
Dr. Phillip A. Campbell
Executive Director
Board for Black Ministry Services
Dr. Campbell's primary focus is the expansion of Black Ministry in The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.Campbell holds a BA in Philosophy from Concordia Senior College, Ft. Wayne, IN; a Masters in Divinity from Concordia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, MO; and a Doctorate in Divinity from Howard University, Washington, DC.
He has written two books--Future Family, Ethical Directives f or African Americans and Others, and "Dare to Dream, Dare to Do."Campbell, who has received many honors and awards, has served in urban parishes for more than 20 years: Berea Lutheran Church, Baltimore, MD; Our Savior Lutheran Church, Indianapolis, IN; and St. John Lutheran Church, Detroit, MI.
He has also served as instructor of philosophy at Coppin State College, Baltimore, MD; Martin Center University, Indianapolis, IN; Concordia University, Ann Arbor, MI; and also Systematic Theology instructor for Concordia Theological Seminary's Delto program at Concordia College, Selma, AL.
Rev. Campbell and his wife Rose have three sons, Phillip, Yari and Matthew and three beautiful granddaughters, Ariel, Zenia and Kiuanna.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Faith of Our Fathers: A Reflection on Father's Day
A Statement from the American Bible Society
New York--The third Sunday in June is observed each year in the United States as Father's Day. The origins of this national event are not clear. Some records suggest that it was first celebrated as a church service some 100 years ago in Fairmont, West Virginia, at Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, now known as Central United Methodist Church. Whether this is true or not, the impulse to honor fathers is a worthy one and it comes with the biblical admonition to honor our fathers and mothers.
In the Bible it is Abraham who is counted as the father of faith and he is revered in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The word "faith" is an important component to remember because it means trust in God-being able to rely on that which is dependable. Abraham trusted God's assurance that his children would become a great nation. The promise came at a point when he and his wife, Sarah, were elderly and childless. And yet Abraham believed that God could do what was foretold to him. He went forward in confidence that God could accomplish, through him, a benefit for all of the world.
Joseph of Galilee is an exemplary father in the Bible. He married Mary, despite the unusual circumstances of her pregnancy. He dared to be unconventional because he trusted that God was working through her and him. He was a righteous man who dared to take on the roles of husband and foster father. And as refugees from danger, after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, it is clear that he protected his family by going beyond what was familiar to find a safe haven. We can learn much about fatherhood from Joseph.
Another father that captures the imagination is a man called Jairus. We read about him in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke. He was a man of importance whose daughter was dying and he came to Jesus, fell at his feet and begged Jesus to help his child. The actions of Jairus revealed his character. He trusted that God could help and it didn't matter that he had wealth and prestige. He humbled himself for the sake of his daughter.
A final father from the Bible that is impressive is the one who had two sons, one of whom went astray. This is, of course, the story told by Jesus of the prodigal son. The father in the parable teaches his two sons powerful lessons of love: the one who went astray who discovered that his father's care came to him even when he had run away from it and the other who struggled to understand such extravagant love in the face of his brother's failures and his own fidelity. The father in the story, like God, never gave up on either of his children.
On Father's Day let us remember that we have been given a heritage of dedication and faithfulness from the fathers we encounter in the Bible and from those fathers who exemplify the best qualities of parenting.
Founded in 1816 and headquartered in New York City, the American Bible Society is a non-profit, interdenominational organization that works to transform lives, particularly among the young, by promoting personal engagement with the Holy Scriptures. The American Bible Society web site is http://www.bibles.com.
A Statement from the American Bible Society
New York--The third Sunday in June is observed each year in the United States as Father's Day. The origins of this national event are not clear. Some records suggest that it was first celebrated as a church service some 100 years ago in Fairmont, West Virginia, at Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, now known as Central United Methodist Church. Whether this is true or not, the impulse to honor fathers is a worthy one and it comes with the biblical admonition to honor our fathers and mothers.
In the Bible it is Abraham who is counted as the father of faith and he is revered in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The word "faith" is an important component to remember because it means trust in God-being able to rely on that which is dependable. Abraham trusted God's assurance that his children would become a great nation. The promise came at a point when he and his wife, Sarah, were elderly and childless. And yet Abraham believed that God could do what was foretold to him. He went forward in confidence that God could accomplish, through him, a benefit for all of the world.
Joseph of Galilee is an exemplary father in the Bible. He married Mary, despite the unusual circumstances of her pregnancy. He dared to be unconventional because he trusted that God was working through her and him. He was a righteous man who dared to take on the roles of husband and foster father. And as refugees from danger, after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, it is clear that he protected his family by going beyond what was familiar to find a safe haven. We can learn much about fatherhood from Joseph.
Another father that captures the imagination is a man called Jairus. We read about him in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke. He was a man of importance whose daughter was dying and he came to Jesus, fell at his feet and begged Jesus to help his child. The actions of Jairus revealed his character. He trusted that God could help and it didn't matter that he had wealth and prestige. He humbled himself for the sake of his daughter.
A final father from the Bible that is impressive is the one who had two sons, one of whom went astray. This is, of course, the story told by Jesus of the prodigal son. The father in the parable teaches his two sons powerful lessons of love: the one who went astray who discovered that his father's care came to him even when he had run away from it and the other who struggled to understand such extravagant love in the face of his brother's failures and his own fidelity. The father in the story, like God, never gave up on either of his children.
On Father's Day let us remember that we have been given a heritage of dedication and faithfulness from the fathers we encounter in the Bible and from those fathers who exemplify the best qualities of parenting.
Founded in 1816 and headquartered in New York City, the American Bible Society is a non-profit, interdenominational organization that works to transform lives, particularly among the young, by promoting personal engagement with the Holy Scriptures. The American Bible Society web site is http://www.bibles.com.
Monday, May 5, 2008
We the people, in order to form a more perfect union...
The following is a transcript of Sen. Barack Obama's speech, as provided by Obama's campaign.
Sen. Barack Obama has said the controversy over his ex-pastor's remarks has been "a distraction" to the campaign.
Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy.
Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.
The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least 20 more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution -- a Constitution that had at its very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.
And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States.
What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part -- through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk -- to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign -- to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America.
I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together -- unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction -- towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren.
This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.
I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas.
I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners -- an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters.
I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.
It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts -- that out of many, we are truly one.
Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity.
Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African-Americans and white Americans.
This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough."
We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.
And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.
On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action, that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap.
On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation -- that rightly offend white and black alike.
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Rev. Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain.
Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely -- just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice.
Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country -- a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America, a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
As such, Rev. Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems -- two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Rev. Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church?
And I confess that if all that I knew of Rev. Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and YouTube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way
But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than 20 years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor.
He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine, who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth -- by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
In my first book, "Dreams From My Father," I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:
"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note -- hope! -- I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones.
"Those stories -- of survival, and freedom, and hope -- became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world.
"Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish -- and with which we could start to rebuild."
That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety -- the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger.
Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear.
The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Rev. Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children.
Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions -- the good and the bad -- of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother -- a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.
Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork.
We can dismiss Rev. Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Rev. Wright made in his offending sermons about America -- to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.
The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through -- a part of our union that we have yet to perfect.
And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.
Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country.
But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.
Legalized discrimination -- where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments -- meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations.
That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.
A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families -- a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened.
And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods -- parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement -- all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.
This is the reality in which Rev. Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted.
What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.
But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it -- those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination.
That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations -- those young men and, increasingly, young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways.
For the men and women of Rev. Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years.
That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.
And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Rev. Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning.
That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change.
But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race.
Their experience is the immigrant experience -- as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor.
They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense.
So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African-American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation.
Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle-class squeeze -- a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many.
And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns -- this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naive as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy -- particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.
But I have asserted a firm conviction -- a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people -- that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.
For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life.
But it also means binding our particular grievances -- for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs -- to the larger aspirations of all Americans, the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family.
And it means taking full responsibility for own lives -- by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.
Ironically, this quintessentially American -- and yes, conservative -- notion of self-help found frequent expression in Rev. Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.
The profound mistake of Rev. Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country -- a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black, Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past.
But what we know -- what we have seen -- is that America can change. That is the true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope -- the audacity to hope -- for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination -- and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past -- are real and must be addressed.
Not just with words, but with deeds -- by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations.
It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand -- that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle -- as we did in the O.J. trial -- or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina -- or as fodder for the nightly news.
We can play Rev. Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words.
We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.
That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children.
This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st Century economy. Not this time.
This time we want to talk about how the lines in the emergency room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care, who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.
This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life.
This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.
This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag.
We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.
I would not be running for president if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected.
And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation -- the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.
There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today -- a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.
There is a young, 23-year-old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
And Ashley said that when she was 9 years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.
She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.
She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents, too.
Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.
Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time.
And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."
"I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.
But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.
A
Sen. Barack Obama has said the controversy over his ex-pastor's remarks has been "a distraction" to the campaign.
Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy.
Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.
The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least 20 more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution -- a Constitution that had at its very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.
And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States.
What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part -- through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk -- to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign -- to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America.
I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together -- unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction -- towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren.
This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.
I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas.
I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners -- an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters.
I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.
It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts -- that out of many, we are truly one.
Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity.
Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African-Americans and white Americans.
This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough."
We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.
And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.
On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action, that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap.
On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation -- that rightly offend white and black alike.
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Rev. Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain.
Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely -- just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice.
Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country -- a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America, a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
As such, Rev. Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems -- two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Rev. Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church?
And I confess that if all that I knew of Rev. Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and YouTube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way
But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than 20 years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor.
He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine, who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth -- by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
In my first book, "Dreams From My Father," I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:
"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note -- hope! -- I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones.
"Those stories -- of survival, and freedom, and hope -- became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world.
"Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish -- and with which we could start to rebuild."
That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety -- the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger.
Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear.
The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Rev. Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children.
Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions -- the good and the bad -- of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother -- a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.
Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork.
We can dismiss Rev. Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Rev. Wright made in his offending sermons about America -- to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.
The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through -- a part of our union that we have yet to perfect.
And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.
Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country.
But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.
Legalized discrimination -- where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments -- meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations.
That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.
A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families -- a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened.
And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods -- parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement -- all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.
This is the reality in which Rev. Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted.
What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.
But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it -- those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination.
That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations -- those young men and, increasingly, young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways.
For the men and women of Rev. Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years.
That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.
And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Rev. Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning.
That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change.
But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race.
Their experience is the immigrant experience -- as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor.
They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense.
So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African-American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation.
Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle-class squeeze -- a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many.
And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns -- this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naive as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy -- particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.
But I have asserted a firm conviction -- a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people -- that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.
For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life.
But it also means binding our particular grievances -- for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs -- to the larger aspirations of all Americans, the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family.
And it means taking full responsibility for own lives -- by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.
Ironically, this quintessentially American -- and yes, conservative -- notion of self-help found frequent expression in Rev. Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.
The profound mistake of Rev. Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country -- a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black, Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past.
But what we know -- what we have seen -- is that America can change. That is the true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope -- the audacity to hope -- for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination -- and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past -- are real and must be addressed.
Not just with words, but with deeds -- by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations.
It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand -- that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle -- as we did in the O.J. trial -- or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina -- or as fodder for the nightly news.
We can play Rev. Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words.
We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.
That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children.
This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st Century economy. Not this time.
This time we want to talk about how the lines in the emergency room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care, who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.
This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life.
This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.
This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag.
We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.
I would not be running for president if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected.
And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation -- the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.
There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today -- a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.
There is a young, 23-year-old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
And Ashley said that when she was 9 years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.
She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.
She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents, too.
Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.
Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time.
And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."
"I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.
But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.
A
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Not on My Watch
Guest Column
By the Rev. Dr. Samuel B. McKinney
Pastor Emeritus
Mount Zion Baptist Church
Seattle Washington
For nearly a year, I have been greatly disturbed by the attack on the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright and Trinity United Church of Christ, which has culminated in recent weeks into a media feeding frenzy that has tarnished everyone in the process. For 36 years, this man of the Gospel and noted theologian has faithfully served his church, his community and his God, by helping those who could not help themselves and by lifting up those who have lost hope. Dr. Wright's ministry has been consistent and his commitment to the faith unmatched.
While media critics, who have not spent a day in seminary, and have no idea how to exegete the Gospel, might find his sermons objectionable, Dr. Wright's theology and sermonic delivery are deeply rooted in the faith and sacred traditions of Black Church. For those who do not know Black Church or for those who simply have not taken time to do the research, here is a mini-history lesson. For the first 150 years of slavery, no organized religious bodies ever attempted to convert those who were enslaved. We established our own congregations and churches, based on our African-ancestored traditions mixed with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the process, we became committed to the idea of freedom.
There were over 300 known slave rebellions in the United States, the vast majority of which were led by preachers of that day, like Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner. Because of that, two white men had to always be present at any slave-led church service. Even while enslaved we had preachers and pastors who spoke to the needs of our condition.
Now, there have always been accommodationist preachers, those who go along to get along. In biblical terms, they are false prophets. A prophet is simply one who speaks on behalf of God and God's people. A true prophet speaks truth to power and is not politically correct. The Old Testament prophets were not politically correct.
The Apostle Paul was not politically correct. And Jesus, the son of God, was not politically correct. Jesus upset the status quo. He disrupted the comfortable. Remember, Jesus got angry and threw the money-changers out of the temple. Jesus raised some holy hell. So why can't Dr. Wright? You see, true prophets speak for God, use colorful language and occasionally use a non-traditional method to get their message across.
There is a strong, historical and contextual relationship between the slave-preacher and the social justice, activist preacher of today. And there is a place and role for God's angry prophets—think Amos, Micah, Isaiah and Jeremiah. They spoke on God's behalf to kings, to the poor and to the enemies of their nation.
Then there are the 20th and 21st century prophets like Vernon Johns, Martin Luther King Jr., Samuel DeWitt Proctor and Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. The difference between false prophets and true prophets is the false prophet speaks to what the masses and those in power want to hear. The true prophet speaks truth no matter how painful. There is a price to be paid for being a prophet. And Dr. Wright is now paying that price both publicly and privately.
It was author Alex Haley who underscored the role and relationship of the Black pastor and their congregations. He said, African American pastors are akin to the African griot, a leader, shepherd, father and the one in whom the story of one's people has been embodied.
For Trinity United Church of Christ and the greater African American faith community, Dr. Wright has been and is a formidable griot. At 81, I am an elder in this tribe of social justice preachers, but I, too, can say the legacy and reach of Dr. Wright's ministry has influenced my faith.
So what has been lost in inflammatory rhetoric and the talking heads of the day is that Dr. Wright, a theological scholar who speaks five languages fluently, has inspired a church to create over 100 fully-functioning ministries, created seven separate corporations, led thousands to Christ, speaks Sunday after Sunday out of a long and storied, proud and prophetic tradition of our faith. And he speaks in the tradition of the slave-preacher and social justice proclaimer who believed in setting the captives free.
Dr. Wright represents the best among us, one of the best in this tribe of prophetic preachers. He has made his church a place where one could express the centuries-old pain of being Black in America, while finding strength for a brighter day. An attack on this man of the God is an attack on all those of the cloth who believe in the social Gospel of liberation. And I will not stand for it.
Not on my watch. Not today!"
March 20, 2008
By the Rev. Dr. Samuel B. McKinney
Pastor Emeritus
Mount Zion Baptist Church
Seattle Washington
For nearly a year, I have been greatly disturbed by the attack on the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright and Trinity United Church of Christ, which has culminated in recent weeks into a media feeding frenzy that has tarnished everyone in the process. For 36 years, this man of the Gospel and noted theologian has faithfully served his church, his community and his God, by helping those who could not help themselves and by lifting up those who have lost hope. Dr. Wright's ministry has been consistent and his commitment to the faith unmatched.
While media critics, who have not spent a day in seminary, and have no idea how to exegete the Gospel, might find his sermons objectionable, Dr. Wright's theology and sermonic delivery are deeply rooted in the faith and sacred traditions of Black Church. For those who do not know Black Church or for those who simply have not taken time to do the research, here is a mini-history lesson. For the first 150 years of slavery, no organized religious bodies ever attempted to convert those who were enslaved. We established our own congregations and churches, based on our African-ancestored traditions mixed with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the process, we became committed to the idea of freedom.
There were over 300 known slave rebellions in the United States, the vast majority of which were led by preachers of that day, like Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner. Because of that, two white men had to always be present at any slave-led church service. Even while enslaved we had preachers and pastors who spoke to the needs of our condition.
Now, there have always been accommodationist preachers, those who go along to get along. In biblical terms, they are false prophets. A prophet is simply one who speaks on behalf of God and God's people. A true prophet speaks truth to power and is not politically correct. The Old Testament prophets were not politically correct.
The Apostle Paul was not politically correct. And Jesus, the son of God, was not politically correct. Jesus upset the status quo. He disrupted the comfortable. Remember, Jesus got angry and threw the money-changers out of the temple. Jesus raised some holy hell. So why can't Dr. Wright? You see, true prophets speak for God, use colorful language and occasionally use a non-traditional method to get their message across.
There is a strong, historical and contextual relationship between the slave-preacher and the social justice, activist preacher of today. And there is a place and role for God's angry prophets—think Amos, Micah, Isaiah and Jeremiah. They spoke on God's behalf to kings, to the poor and to the enemies of their nation.
Then there are the 20th and 21st century prophets like Vernon Johns, Martin Luther King Jr., Samuel DeWitt Proctor and Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. The difference between false prophets and true prophets is the false prophet speaks to what the masses and those in power want to hear. The true prophet speaks truth no matter how painful. There is a price to be paid for being a prophet. And Dr. Wright is now paying that price both publicly and privately.
It was author Alex Haley who underscored the role and relationship of the Black pastor and their congregations. He said, African American pastors are akin to the African griot, a leader, shepherd, father and the one in whom the story of one's people has been embodied.
For Trinity United Church of Christ and the greater African American faith community, Dr. Wright has been and is a formidable griot. At 81, I am an elder in this tribe of social justice preachers, but I, too, can say the legacy and reach of Dr. Wright's ministry has influenced my faith.
So what has been lost in inflammatory rhetoric and the talking heads of the day is that Dr. Wright, a theological scholar who speaks five languages fluently, has inspired a church to create over 100 fully-functioning ministries, created seven separate corporations, led thousands to Christ, speaks Sunday after Sunday out of a long and storied, proud and prophetic tradition of our faith. And he speaks in the tradition of the slave-preacher and social justice proclaimer who believed in setting the captives free.
Dr. Wright represents the best among us, one of the best in this tribe of prophetic preachers. He has made his church a place where one could express the centuries-old pain of being Black in America, while finding strength for a brighter day. An attack on this man of the God is an attack on all those of the cloth who believe in the social Gospel of liberation. And I will not stand for it.
Not on my watch. Not today!"
March 20, 2008
Jeremiah Wright and the Black Church
Barack Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright continues to dominate news headlines with several public appearances, including a PBS television interview with Bill Moyers, intended to give the American public a fuller picture of who he really is. Rev. Wright, who recently retired from Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, became the center of controversy after clips from some of his most inflammatory sermons surfaced over the airwaves earlier this year.
This week, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. as part of a summit sponsored by the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Rev. Wright charged that the attacks are not about him or Senator Obama, but are being launched against the black church itself "by people who know nothing about the African-American religious tradition."
Bob Abernethy is joined by Dr. Harold Dean Trulear, associate professor of Applied Theology at Howard University School of Divinity, for a studio discussion on how black churches are responding to Wright. For full story see: http://www.pbs.org/religion
Trulear also talks talks with Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly about Jeremiah Wright, black church history and traditions, and the need for reconciliation that "takes disaffection into account."
This week, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. as part of a summit sponsored by the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Rev. Wright charged that the attacks are not about him or Senator Obama, but are being launched against the black church itself "by people who know nothing about the African-American religious tradition."
Bob Abernethy is joined by Dr. Harold Dean Trulear, associate professor of Applied Theology at Howard University School of Divinity, for a studio discussion on how black churches are responding to Wright. For full story see: http://www.pbs.org/religion
Trulear also talks talks with Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly about Jeremiah Wright, black church history and traditions, and the need for reconciliation that "takes disaffection into account."
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