Pastors Hope Reconciliation is Ahead
By Kathleen Gray, Detroit Free Press
Mar. 19–Sen. Barack Obama’s passionate speech on race and religion had Detroit pastors rejoicing at a hint of reconciliation that could be on the horizon and expressing worry that a controversial minister doesn’t derail his presidential campaign.
“My hope and prayer is that this candid and honest conversation will open the door to have some real serious dialogue about race,” said Pastor Kenneth Flowers of the Greater New Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit. “My prayer is that we will not allow the comments of Rev. Jeremiah Wright to dictate who should become the next president. There are much deeper issues that are far more important … than the comments of Rev. Jeremiah Wright.”
Wright is pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. He was Obama’s pastor in Chicago, presiding at Obama’s wedding and the baptism of his daughters. His sermons regarding his feelings about white America have been constant clips on TV news shows in recent days.
Wright has been a frequent visitor and preacher in Detroit churches, including Hartford Memorial Baptist Church.
“What we’ve seen on those clips is not the real Jeremiah we know,” said Hartford’s pastor, Dr. Charles Adams. “We’ve never heard those types of words from Jeremiah.
“It’s a political trick to catch a person at a weak moment. You can make anyone look unreasonable, angry and controversial if you pick out the worst of their rhetoric,” he added.
Besides, said Flowers, a candidate should not be judged by the church he attends.
“I’m a pastor, and I’ve made some controversial statements in the past. My congregation loves me to death, but there are some who may not agree with me about asking” Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to resign, he said. “And it certainly doesn’t mean that they should leave my church.”
Pastor Edgar Vann of the Second Ebenezer Church in Detroit said he hopes Obama’s central message Tuesday isn’t lost in the Wright controversy.
“Somewhere beyond the political spectrum if we could bring people of goodwill together to discuss race, we’d be much, much further along than we are now,” he said. “This is a cancer in America, and something must be done about it.”
Detroit political consultant Coit Cook Ford said Obama’s attempt to explain African-American anger at historical injustices was misplaced.
“When you talk about the anger of people to those who haven’t shared in that legacy, it offends white Americans. I don’t think you can take them to the place,” he said. “Americans want to live up to the example of the best aspects of the Constitution. And when history contradicts that, they don’t want to hear it.”
Contact KATHLEEN GRAY at 313-223-4407 or kgray99@freepress.com.
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