Category: The Dish

"Any authenticity that we are going to have as persons of faith and any authority that we are going to have as witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ will come because of our exposure to bruises and scars. There is no other way to authenticity. There is a certain counterfeit pose that one may maintain, but as to an entrance into the full, the true authority, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, that comes by exposure and by wounds. There is no other way. If one looks back at those who have deeply affected their generation, the discovery will be made that almost without exception they did it against some minus, some ache, some pain in their own lives …

At some time, who can say when, there will be a crown of thorns pressed down upon your head. It may be some private anguish. It may be some profoundly disturbing condition in your own family. One cannot detail the direction whence the affliction will come, but when it does, you will have every right to rail against it and to cry out against that kind of providence, even to argue with God, to withstand him to the face …

But do one other thing. Take it. Accept. For was it not our Lord’s word that the cup he looked into, the awful agony which waited for him, did not come from unfriendly hands: "The cup which my Father hath given, shall I not drink of it?"

I promise you this, if you can take whatever deep hurt that occurs in your life and hold it up before God and say to him, even in bitterness, of this which you despise and this which you hate, "If there is anything you can do with it, take, and use it."

I promise you, you will be utterly amazed at what will occur," – Gardner C. Taylor, sermon delivered February 1, 1978. A Charlie Rose interview can be seen with him here.

This strikes me as worth a look. Here is Jeremiah Wright’s sermon from which one Hannity clip has been culled. After 9/11, Wright is making a classic pacifist case against what he calls "the insanity of the cycle of hatred." I don’t agree with it, and he clearly equates the death of innocents in American warfare with the deaths of innocents in 9/11. But it does fall within the boundaries of a certain kind of Christianity. It does not seem to me to be Chomsky so much as a left-wing Biblical pacifist message. He is also self-critical, which you don’t get from the edited version. He is calling Christians to examine "my own and your own relationship with God," in the wake of a moment when we all sought to fight back against the evil of al Qaeda. I don’t agree with his moral equivalence. But I do see the roots of this message in a version of liberation theology and Christianity, rather than hatred of America as such. He includes himself as someone who needs to examine his own conscience and consider what he regards as a cycle of violence. I think the cable news clips are a little distortive and make more sense in fuller context.

Let me add that I do not believe that patriotism means never criticizing one’s own country, especially if one criticizes one’s own complicity in its failings. That’s especially true for Christians who are sometimes called to make their fellows very uncomfortable in their loyalties. In the days after 9/11, I would have been furious about that sermon. But from a distance, I do not see it as political so much as a form of radical Christianity. Anyway, see for yourself and make your own mind up:

Here’s another piece of fuller context. It’s too long for cable news. But that’s what the web is for, right?

This doesn’t excuse some of his remarks, but it does give another view of the man:

As a leader, Wright defied convention at every turn. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune last year, he recalled a time during the 1970s when the UCC decided to ordain gay and lesbian clergy. At its annual meeting, sensitive to the historic discomfort some blacks have with homosexuality, gay leaders reached out to black pastors.

At that session, Wright heard the testimony of a gay Christian and, he said, he had a conversion experience on gay rights. He started one of the first AIDS ministries on the South Side and a singles group for Trinity gays and lesbians—a subject that still rankles some of the more conservative Trinity members, says Dwight Hopkins, a theology professor at the University of Chicago and a church member.

One thing I will always respect about Jeremiah Wright is that, alone among many black ministers, he saw and embraced the God-given dignity of gay men and women. He is a flawed man. He has said some angry things. But I do not believe he is an evil man, as some have claimed. And I also believe he has been a pioneer in one the great current civil rights movements, and done it in a place where it has been hardest.

(Hat tip: Chris Crain).

"God didn’t call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war. . . . And we are criminals in that war. We’ve committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world, and I’m going to continue to say it. And we won’t stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as a nation. But God has a way of even putting nations in their place…[God will say:] And if you don’t stop your reckless course, I’ll rise up and break the backbone of your power."

It was Martin Luther King Jr, someone whom the Sean Hannitys and Bill O’Reillys of the time called a communist, and an associate of moral degenerates (a gay man, Bayard Rustin, with a criminal record for public sex and one of the great heroes of twentieth century American history). E.J.’s column today is one of the best he has ever written.

There’s no solid evidence of foul play from any rival campaign in this Bill Gertz scoop; but count me skeptical about this being totally innocent. From the absurd rumors of his religion, the lies about the pledge of allegiance, the uproar over Wright, it’s quite clear that Obama’s historic candidacy has some people in a panic. Good. Some people should be.

Clinton supporter Joseph Wilson:

Claims of superior intuitive judgment by his campaign and by him are self-evidently disingenuous, especially in light of disclosures about his long associations with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko.

Joe Klein’s response:

If her campaign persists in peddling this sort of kamikaze stuff–and make no mistake, this sort of op-ed is usually vetted by the campaign–her judgment should be called into question.

It appears that only a majority of Republicans buy the notion that Obama shares Wright’s views as expressed in a tiny proportion of his sermons on YouTube. Eric Kleefeld has more:

The internals show only 17% of Democrats saying Obama shares Wright’s ideas, along with 20% of independents and 36% of Republicans.

Fox also asked respondents whether they had doubts about Obama because of his association with Wright. The results: 35% Yes, 54% No, with the numbers standing at 26%-66% for Democrats, 27%-61% among independents, and 56%-33% with Republicans.

The independents seem to me to be the critical block. Obama has clearly been wounded by the onslaught. But it is not fatal.

Live by YouTube; die by YouTube. A very white backlash:

The Clinton White House, that is.

Some black guy won’t shut up.