Ranting against this country's sins

I was going to stay out of this discussion since so many of my friends have blogged about it already. Barack Obama is supposed to make a statement today about race in this country. As "clean and articulate" (Joe Biden's words) as Obama is, I'm sure he will address this issue in a much better fashion than I can.

But I did want to share this article from the Huffington Post:
You can read the whole thing click here

Frank Schaeffer says:

Obama's Minister Committed "Treason" But When My Father Said the Same Thing He Was a Republican Hero

"When Senator Obama's preacher thundered about racism and injustice Obama suffered smear-by-association. But when my late father -- Religious Right leader Francis Schaeffer (the author's father) -- denounced America and even called for the violent overthrow of the US government, he was invited to lunch with presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush, Sr."


For the most part, Sunday morning in this country is the most segregated time we have. The black church in America was founded during slavery. Some major denominations started in the 1700's by freemen who could not freely participate in the white church. Southern plantation owners allowed the slaves to have their prayer meetings because it kept them quiet. Little did they know that those gatherings became the basis for liberation.

The black church became the only place where we could talk about liberation and the social concerns that are uniquely ours. The Emancipation movement and later the Civil Rights movement both started in the black church.

Now that we have a black presidential candidate, whose religious affiliation has been questioned from the start because his middle name is Husein and his father was a Muslim, now the world has to look inside the church where he has been a member for 20 years.

Jeremiah Wright has had a reputation for being a fiery preacher for a long time. I had heard of him long before I heard of Barack Obama. (I've been traveling in preacher circles for most of my life.) His message does not offend me. Some of the sound-bites we have been hearing on the news may be laced with urban legend, but that's all part of the dramatic leanings of the good preacher.

It's unfortunate that Obama has felt the need to distance himself from the message as well as the messenger. I do hope that his "major speech on race" today will make me feel more comfortable with his "political correctness" in this whole thing. He has my vote regardless of what he has to say.