In Mississippi and Louisiana, Republicans used Barack Obama's past ties to Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. to try to scare up white votes. Instead, their strategy boosted black voter turnout. Now Congressional Republicans are scared the three straight losses foretell disaster in November.While Wright didn't work any magic for the GOP in Mississippi, 52 percent of voters in West Virginia said Obama shares the views of Wright. The question is open-ended so it is not clear to which views they are referring. Obama has, after all, denounced and repudiated Wright.
I am skeptical of organized religion so I try to steer clear of matters of faith. Earlier this week, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture held a forum on the origins and practice of Black Liberation Theology, "Understanding Black Theology: A 40-Year Retrospective."
The participants included Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr., Senior Minister Emeritus of the Riverside Church, Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts III, Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church, and Dr. James H. Cone of the Union Theological Seminary.
I checked out the discussion to get some understanding of what makes Wright tick. Indeed, the moderator, Rev. Dr. M. William Howard Jr., acknowledged that "if it hadn't been for Jeremiah Wright, we wouldn't be here."
Black Liberation Theology was conceived in 1968 during a conference at Howard University. It was a response to Stokely Carmichael's "black power." Dr. Cone's groundbreaking book, "Black Theology and Black Power," provides the intellectual framework.
Dr. Cone said:
Black Liberation Theology asks what it means to love God with your mind. Theology is the critical side of faith. It is faith questioning itself, faith challenging itself. Theology reminds faith not to be too sure of itself. It reminds faith about the contradictions in life. And nothing challenges faith like suffering.The civil rights movement was an embodiment of faith and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was its "great interpreter." Still, some black clergy questioned Dr. King's philosophy of non-violence. The Christian faith was also being challenged as a white man's religion, most notably by Malcolm X.
Dr. Cone added:
When I heard Malcolm and when I heard black power advocates, I asked myself how I can bring Martin and Malcolm together. Malcolm taught me how to be black and I was black before I was anything else. So I couldn't give that up. I was determined not to give up my faith but I could not ignore the blackness of my existence.To place Black Liberation Theology in context, one must understand the dialectical tension between Dr. King and Malcolm X. If there had been no Malcolm X and no consciousness movement, there would be no Black Liberation Theology.
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1. The thing to remember is that we are talking about Theology. As long as we don't forget that there are many divergent views, NONE of which are completely right, we can all find our way to the light.
Remember: as Christians we must not take our eye off of the prize, which is Jesus himself. If we were to apply His words to Black Liberation Theology alot of it would fall away because Christ's focus is not on lifting just Black people up out of the opression of the majority, yet it is to lift ALL of mankind up from the opression of sin. Nothing else matters if you lose you soul. All these other things are distractions from Jesus' real message.
Rev. wright would do better putting the focus back on Jesus, where it correctly and always belongs, and not seek to impress the world with the short lived words and trappings of men which will all one day turn to dust.
America is no different than your brother...why worry about the toothpick in his eye when you have a board in your own? This doesn't mean sit idly by and do nothing to help make OUR country and people better, but do it from the perspective of Jesus. All have sinned and come short of God's glory.
Imagine the opportunity to win hearts and minds towards Christ by apologizing for offending your fellow men whether intending to or not, wether right or wrong, and seek the common grounds? I don't need speeches that rile me up and make me feel good but take me nowhere closer to Jesus. If Christ is truly who you serve then your focus would always be on putting Him in the best public light possible if you are publicly claiming to be one of his shepherds.
Times like these are when we can learn the true motivations and natures of the men we ascribe to follow... pay attention.
Marcus at 6:32AM on May 16th 2008