March 19, 2008

Senator Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” speech was political rhetoric at its finest. While skillfully denouncing the words of his pastor and spiritual mentor, Barack Obama left intact a tacit endorsement of the philosophical worldview that fuels the incendiary rhetoric of Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Rev. Wright is not merely ranting when he says things like the following:

The government gives them [black people] the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law, and then wants us to sing “God Bless America?” No, no, no! Not “God BLESS America,” God DAMN America. That’s in the Bible. For killing innocent people. God damn America for treating her citizens as less than human ….

These words betray a commitment to a dangerous political theology. Rev. Wright’s worldview is a poisonous mixture of Marxist socialism and a distorted view of the gospel of Jesus Christ which has as its chief goal the obliteration of Anglo/European influence on American life, culture and politics. Rev. Wright’s worldview comes across loud and clear:

... [Jesus] cares about what a poor black man has to face every day in a country and a culture controlled by rich white people … Jesus was a poor, black man who lived in a country, and who lived in a culture that was controlled by rich, white people. The Romans were rich. The Romans were Italian, which means they were European, which means they were white. And the Romans ran everything in Jesus’s country.

Senator Obama has a two-decades-long association with Rev. Wright and his church, Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. In the mission statement at its Web site, Trinity’s commitment to Black Liberation Theology is clearly outlined. Furthermore, in an interview with Sean Hannity, Rev. Wright confirmed the work of James Cone, considered by many the founder of Black Liberation Theology, as a primary influence in the shaping his worldview. Evangelical blogger Joe Carter, in a recent post, quotes Cone:

Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community ... Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.

The media, both conservative and mainstream, is focused on the incendiary rhetoric of Jeremiah Wright while totally ignoring the political/religious philosophy fueling the words. Obama skillfully (and successfully) convinced us that he repudiates the words of his mentor and spiritual advisor, but what politician wouldn’t? The more important question we should be asking the Senator is, Do you repudiate the philosophy of Black Liberation Theology espoused by your church?