Wright Addendum

OK - so my cousin, Robert, was saying that back in his college days, he and friends would talk about the possibility that Jesus was a black man based on a line in the Bible about him having "curly hair like a lamb." We DO know he was not an Aryan surfer dude looking guy - no blonde hair and blue eyes, that is to say. So there is that, but black? Nope - Middle Eastern Jew.

That being said, I certainly understand the metaphor of Jesus as a Black Man - one of my seminary professors, James Cone, is considered to be the Father of Black Liberation Theology, after all - but the idea in liberation theology in general is that Jesus stands with the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed. I can completely understand, and appreciate, that concept.

But that is NOT what the Rev. Wright is preaching. Rather, he is preaching hate, pure and simple. While it is true that Senator Clinton does not know what it is like to be a black man in America, she sure as hell knows what it is like to be a WOMAN in America. And while I am not ranking oppressions here, being a woman in this culture is no easy thing, that's for sure. And SHE is called derogarory names all the time, BY PEOPLE IN THE MEDIA, as well as those in the general public. I don't hear him standing up for HER saying those kinds of attacks are un-Christian, but they certainly ARE - and fly in the face of the PRIMARY mandate made by Jesus: "Love thy neighbor as thyself." He could not have been any clearer on how people should be treated: the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Beatitudes, the woman at the well, and flat out admonitions on LOVING ONE ANOTHER. He did not throw in a whole bunch of caveats like, "Love your neighbor as yourself as long as s/he looks like you, thinks like you, talks like you..." Um, NO. What Wright is doing is fueling the divide, and if Obama has been listening to this kind of divisive, incendiary talk for over twenty years, just HOW is it that he is going to be the Unifier?? As if there was any real doubt about that "credential" already, this type of belief system espoused by his church should squelch it pretty darn quickly.

One last thing - while there is a racial divide in this country, there is also a class divide that often goes unrecognized. I have written about this before, but Clinton did not grow up with money. She worked hard for where she is today, putting herself through law school, for instance. That is no small feat today, much less 30-plus years ago. Not to diminish Obama's achievements at all. I am just tired of Clinton's achievements being diminished. Enough said - for now!