Recently, Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity UCC in Chicago has been vilified in the press for some of things said in sermons in the last few years. Wright retired earlier this year but he was the long time pastor of presidential candidate Barack Obama.

My view on this… some of the things Wright was saying don’t seem too bad to me… what’s wrong with pointing out that the United States is not blameless in this world? I think it is critical that we do so. But, some of the things Wright has said strike me as more suspect… criticizing Hillary Clinton for her privileged position as a *white* woman in comparison to Obama’s less than privileged position as a *black* man seems to be me to just be the flip side of what Geraldine Ferraro was recently criticized for saying. Bascially it sounds like they’re arguing about who’s oppression is worse (gender vs. race). It’s a pointless argument that I can see no positive benefit from. All oppression needs to be addressed.

I also could very well be wrong about my personal assessments of Wright’s quotes because all of the quotes were out of context. They were 10 second clips out of a sermon, which I’m guessing probably ran a lot longer. To really try to judge what he was saying, I think one should be obligated to listen to the whole sermon.

However, in any case, none of that is what really upsets me the most. What I don’t understand is why Barack Obama is being held responsible for what his minister said? What is the relationship between pastor and parishoner? The media seems to think that everyone who goes to church has to blindly believe and do what the preacher says. And, if they don’t, I guess they need to issue a press release to make their disagreement public. It all seems ludicrous to me. I’m much more interested in what Obama says than what his pastor said.