Senator Obama and his wife Michelle have now resigned their membership from Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
Given the outrageous and incendiary statements made from the pulpit by Rev. Wright and repeated with evident relish from the podium of the National Press Club, perhaps the Obamas’ resignation was inevitable. I personally thought the most disgraceful part of Wright’s performance at the National Press Club was his throwing of his parishioner (Sen. Obama) under the bus by saying that in distancing himself from Rev. Wright’s statements, Senator Obama was just “doing what politicians do” (calling into question Senator Obama’s veracity and integrity). With a shepherd like this, who needs wolves?
I suspect the final straw for Senator Obama was the disgraceful and sickening rant by Father Michael Pfleger, the Catholic priest, whose racist and sexist mocking of Senator Hillary Clinton from any pulpit of any church by any clergyman would be sacrilegious because of its content, tone, and spirit.
I’m glad that Senator Obama has severed his ties with Trinity Church. However, many Americans find the senator’s long-term relationships with Rev. Wright, Father Pfleger and Trinity Church disquieting. Why?
Rev. Wright and Father Pfleger didn’t just engage in drive-by pulpit muggings of Senator Obama. Rev. Wright was Obama’s pastor for 20 years, and the senator had called him a “mentor” who led him to Christ. As a pastor myself, I know that the pastor-church member relationship is very personal and intimate.
Senator Obama’s relationship with Father Pfleger, the controversial Catholic priest, also is a long-term one. Pfleger has contributed to Senator Obama’s political campaigns, and as a state legislator Senator Obama directed nearly a quarter of a million dollars in government grant money to social programs at St. Sabina’s, Father Pfleger’s parish church. The priest endorsed Senator Obama’s candidacy, and the Obama campaign even brought him to Iowa last September to host an interfaith forum.
Did Senator Obama never have an inkling of Rev. Wright’s and Father Pfleger’s radical and incendiary views over the many years of his relationships with both clergymen?
And most disturbing of all is the enthusiastic and exuberant response demonstrated by many Trinity Church members to Wright’s and Pfleger’s outrageous comments. In discussions of this issue with friends and colleagues, that is the question that most often arises. Why were the church members so enthusiastic in their response, and what does it tell us about Senator Obama that he and his family remained in such a church for two decades?
Most people compare the Trinity Church members’ reaction to what their own response would have been. I know I do. If I were ever witness to a rant such as the one Father Pfleger spewed out, I would get up and leave immediately, lest my continued presence be mistaken as silent agreement with such hateful racist and sexist speech. Why were so many present cheering?