Being rich and white, I can’t help but be concerned with the remarks of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Rev. Wright is the “retired” pastor of Trinity Unity Church of Christ in Chicago, the church that Barack Obama calls his home church.
It is true, I am white. And it is true, I am rich. I own a home and two cars, am sending my daughter to college, and afford luxuries like vacations, expensive exercise equipment, nice furniture and other things I really don’t need. While things have been tight from time to time in my life, I have never gone to bed hungry, always lived in a home with heating and sometimes air conditioning, and sometimes throw away perfectly good things. I buy too many clothes, too much food, and too much music.
I have written laws and advised law makers and am committed to our way of government, culture, and society. Some may call me a bureaucrat or a political insider. When my son complains about “The Man” I quickly remind him that I am “The Man.”
Therefore, with that understanding of who I am, I was taken aback by the comments recently brought to light from the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. On the YouTube video I watched, I felt that Rev. White was pretty angry with me and people like me. It also seems that his congregation is pretty happy that the Reverend is communicating his feelings and thoughts on people like me.
But regardless of what Rev. Wright says about me and my demographic, what really bothers me is how his words affect the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As my co-worker commented after seeing his sermon, “This is why Christianity sucks.”
According to Rev. Wright, Jesus’ message is one of social and political liberation. He describes his own theology as “Black Liberation Theology.” I don’t know what that is, but am not inclined to find out since it seems to tolerate such blatantly factual errors about Jesus and the time and circumstances in which he lived.
For example, the Romans did not control everything. They did not control the Jewish religion. They allowed the Jews to maintain their customs and their religious practices. Indeed, they allowed the Jews to maintain their culture.
Jesus, while perhaps being of a different skin color from the Romans and certainly of the ruled rather than the ruling class, had few things to say about the Romans and their occupation. While he challenged Caesar’s claims of deity, he did not suggest that Romans were racist, unjust, or worthy of disdain because they were “rich, white people” and were subjecting the Jews to occupation and tribute. In fact, Jesus disabuses the notion that his ministry was about establishing a new political kingdom and overthrowing the Romans.
Jesus’ harshest words were hardly aimed at the Romans. In fact, he praised a number of Romans who demonstrated great faith. Rather, Jesus’ target of most of his anger and criticism were aimed at the Jewish leaders of his own people because they used religion to manipulate the people and distorted who God really is.
In response to my co-worker, I said “No, this is why Reverend Wright’s notion of Christianity suck.”
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