I agree, but I still feel Obama will win and win big in the end.

>I completely understand that. And yes, I understand belonging to a church - I was raised in about as solid a church community as was to be found.
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>I'm not much for "spiritual mentors", gurus, or "leaders" for that matter. But if one declares someone is their "spiritual mentor" I think that has implications that include a respect for the underlying wisdom. I have no doubt that Rev. Wright has much to recommend him, but there is no question that he (and his successor) identify strongly with black liberation theology, which on an intellectual level has to be anathema to someone as bright as Obama's followers seem to think he is.
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>If my minister had been railing for 20 years about The Mud People or ZOG or quoting from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion I seriously doubt I would have been able to turn a blind eye, decide that I could no more disown him than I could disown Methodism or my black son-in-law and I doubt I'd be taking my children to a church where they'd get big doses of this.
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>I realize Wright is probably not as crazy as the Christian Identity people, but it really is worth looking into black liberation theology and the role it plays in race relations in the US. For Wright to say an attack on his brand of craziness - or even his demagoguery - is an attack on the black church is not only narcissistic but a distortion.
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>I don't really believe this whole flap says anything serious about Obama's character or anything else. But I think it injects a note of realism into a campaign that was not about who Obama is but about the projected wishes of his followers. I'm much more interesting in policy than personality.
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>But as I said in a message to Mike, if Obama is elected (and I don't think that is going to happen) his most vitriolic critics will not be on the right but on the left.
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>>>So a couple of weeks ago for the first time in 20 years he had a problem with it ? <s> I honestly think he doesn't think the rantings of any preacher are important enough to get worked up over - just the kind of thing that people who cling to guns and religion take seriously.
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>>Charles - have you ever belonged to a church? I've belonged to the same synagogue for nearly 30 years, and I can assure you that there have been many times that I haven't agreed with the rabbi's message from the pulpit. Was any of it as extreme as Wright's stuff? No, but plenty of it, especially in political areas, was absolutely on the other side of an issue from what I believe.
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>>So why did I stay in that synagogue. Because belonging to a congregation is about far more than the words of sermons. It's about community, about what the institution does as a whole, and so forth.
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>>Tamar