Note updates at the end of the post
**
From ABC News.com via Kathryn Lopez:
Sen. Barack Obama's pastor says blacks should not sing "God Bless America" but "God damn America."
The
Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor for the last 20 years at the
Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's south side, has a long
history of what even Obama's campaign aides concede is "inflammatory
rhetoric," including the assertion that the United States brought on
the 9/11 attacks with its own "terrorism."
In
a campaign appearance earlier this month, Sen. Obama said, "I don't
think my church is actually particularly controversial." He said Rev.
Wright "is like an old uncle who says things I don't always agree
with," telling a Jewish group that everyone has someone like that in
their family.
Rev.
Wright married Obama and his wife Michelle, baptized their two
daughters and is credited by Obama for the title of his book, "The
Audacity of Hope."
An
ABC News review of dozens of Rev. Wright's sermons, offered for sale by
the church, found repeated denunciations of the U.S. based on what he
described as his reading of the Gospels and the treatment of black
Americans.
"The
government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a
three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no,
no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people,"
he said in a 2003 sermon. "God damn America for treating our citizens
as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she
is God and she is supreme."
In
addition to damning America, he told his congregation on the Sunday
after Sept. 11, 2001 that the United States had brought on al Qaeda's
attacks because of its own terrorism.
"We
bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the
thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye,"
Rev. Wright said in a sermon on Sept. 16, 2001.
"We
have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South
Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done
overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's
chickens are coming home to roost," he told his congregation.
Sen.
Obama told the New York Times he was not at the church on the day of
Rev. Wright's 9/11 sermon. "The violence of 9/11 was inexcusable and
without justification," Obama said in a recent interview. "It sounds
like he was trying to be provocative," Obama told the paper.
Rev.
Wright, who announced his retirement last month, has built a large and
loyal following at his church with his mesmerizing sermons, mixing
traditional spiritual content and his views on contemporary issues.
"I wouldn't call it radical. I call it being black in America," said one congregation member outside the church last Sunday.
Me: What does it say about a person (Obama) who has willingly sat under a man preaching such views for such a long time? And who has furthermore called him a friend and mentor and guide? To me it says a lot. Spooky. Note: I previously blogged about Obama's pastor here. - For Victor Davis Hanson's comments, keep reading.
