If you thought Barack Obama’s Chicago church would try to lay low in hopes that the controversy over the video-taped sermons of Rev. Jeremiah Wright would soon pass, you thought wrong. The church’s new minister struck back during Sunday’s services, and a statement by the church compared the recent tsunami of criticism of Wright to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., promising to set off another round of cable news fury and counter fury that could give the story new life this week.
Here’s the top of the statement from Trinity United Church of Christ:

Chicago, Ill. (March 15, 2008) — Nearly three weeks before the 40th commemorative anniversary of the murder of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.’s character is being assassinated in the public sphere because he has preached a social gospel on behalf of oppressed women, children and men in America and around the globe.

The Politico reported on Trinity’s Sunday sermon, delivered by Otis Moss III, who replaced Wright upon his recent retirement:

“We have listened and watched as the wonderful work of our church has been vilified this week,” he told about 3,000 congregants on Palm Sunday morning. “This week should be special for us because I guess we know a little something about crucifixion.”
….”Our very sanity is connected to the church. If it hadn’t been for the church we would have lost our minds in the insanity of racism,” he said, in a sermon titled, “Why the Black Church Won’t Shut Up.”

This must have made the Obama camp wince. One of the main arguments Obama’s surrogates have been making in the face of the Wright flare-up is that voters want to hear about issues like health care and the economy, not about the ravings of Obama’s pastor. This weekend’s ravings from the church are fuel to the fire, promising the story ain’t going anywhere soon.

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