NP Rank:
Dallas Morning News column latest of many efforts to de-Christianize Obama
The Dallas Morning News began Rod Dreher's column tagged with the following question:
Do Christian conservatives tempted by (Obama) know what they're supporting?
Mr. Dreher's column is exactly what one would expect from America's so-called conservatives.
Please read Rod Dreher's article by clicking here
so that you may get the full context of his column and my post. Here are a few lines from his article.
- Mr. Obama is
not a preacher, but he gives awesome sermons. He is comfortable using
religious language in his speeches, and it's easy for conservative
Christians to imagine that, despite profound policy differences with
the liberal Democrat, he and they share common ground.
- If so, it's
probably less than they think. Mr. Obama's church is a member of the
United Church of Christ, one of the more liberal mainline Protestant
denominations….
Moreover, Mr. Obama has called his conversion to Christianity "a choice
and not an epiphany." He writes of his experience at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ
as an opening up to the social power of religion.
- The Rev.
Jeremiah Wright, who serves as Mr. Obama's pastor and whose sermons
brought Mr. Obama to the altar for baptism, is a big fan of the black
Muslim minister (Minister Louis Farrakhan). Trinity UCC's magazine gave
Mr. Farrakhan, infamous for his white-bashing, anti-Semitic sermons, an
award last year for his "greatness." Mr. Wright bases his own appeal on
explicitly racial lines.
- Scripture
says faith is evidence of things unseen. Mr. Obama's conservative
admirers, in whose number I count myself, should bear in mind that he's
merely a secular politician. Before putting faith in Mr. Obama, we need
to see more evidence that he's not merely old liberal wine poured into
an attractive new wineskin.
I have had the opportunity to hear Dr. Jerimiah Wright
speak on many occasions. Dr. Wright is an annual visitor at our church, Friendship-West in Dallas.
Dreher refers to "anti-white" statements by Dr. Wright along with "white-bashing" statements by Min. Farrakhan.
Is anti-racist the same as anti-white?
Is anti-white privilege anti-white?
Is anti-discrimination anti-white?
Is anti-Bush the same as anti-white?
I hope not, I'd have to tell all of my Anglo friends and acquaintances that I too am anti-white.
And while Mr. Dreher was making a list of Dr. Wright's friends to
include "the black Muslim minister," why didn't he include Father
Michael Pfleger, the white Catholic pastor of the Faith Community of
Saint Sabina in Chicago? Oh yeah, Christian conservatives don't care
much for Catholics either.
Dreher quotes a 2007 Rolling Stone article
that refers to Obama having "…as
openly radical a background as any significant American political
figure has ever emerged from, as much Malcolm X as Martin Luther King
Jr." On the eve of the King holiday, Mr. Dreher reminds us that Dr. Martin Luther King was seen as radical his day. The Great Debaters' Melvin Tolson rightly suggests Jesus was a radical in his times as well.
Lumping Obama in with statements that Farrakhan made 20+ years ago
and Dr. Wright's anti-white privilege message can make conservatives
feel better about bypassing Obama. What better way to clear one's
conscience than to believe that the Senator has underlying hate issues.
Mr. Dreher says Obama is merely a secular politician. What was
Sunday School teacher Bull Conner? The Birmingham Public Safety
Commissioner ordered dogs and fire hydrants on peaceful protesters.
What was Trent Lott? Lott was a big hit with Christian conservatives but said "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him."
Lott went on to say "We're proud of it. And if the rest of the
country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems
over all these years, either."
What would that make George W. Bush?
Mr. Dreher can have his conservative religion and I'll take the
radical one. I'll take the religion criticized for healing a lame man
on the Sabbath. I'll take the one that fed those who were hungry.
I'll take the one that urges us to visit those who are in prison.
Healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and visiting prisoners are
liberal social issues in today's America.
I assume these are the issues that drew Sen. Obama to Dr. Jerimiah
Wright and Trinity. They are what drew my pastor, his son in the
ministry, to his teaching. They are also what have drawn me to his
message as well.
Mr. Dreher's column is more old wine poured in more old wineskin,
stale with no hope of stretching beyond where it's always been.



Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 04:16 on January 21st, 2008
shawnpwilliams, excellent counterpoint -- thanks for this.
at 07:49 on January 21st, 2008
shawnpwilliams, I like this story. It's good stuff.