God damn America?
Wow. It’s not hard to imagine how those words could cause most people to think ill of whoever the speaker was. But since it was the preacher at the church Barack Obama attended, it was even more suspect. (Remember Obama? The guy the Internet said was a mole for radical Muslim terrorists? Yeah, that guy.)
And now his pastor at his Christian church is saying hateful, inflammatory remarks during a sermon! He and the pastor must be evil! And see the way the congregation jumped around? Why they must be evil as well!
Or …
It’s just something different from what white, middle-class America experiences when they go to church.
Anytime someone sees something that is different from their own experiences, red flags rise up and alarm bells inside your head go off. Different equals foreign equals bad.
I was rised in a Baptist church. This meant hymnals led by a music director playing on a piano, dress clothes and a screaming preacher who let you know the infinite variety of ways you were lucky to be baptized and thus avoid hell. And if you didn’t agree or were of a different faith, you were going to hell too.
But Rev. Wright’s dialogue didn’t upset me. I know when I see something out of context. And I also know when preachers are talking, er, yelling that they might be trying to use hyperbole and extreme statements to get a point across. Although I went to church in North Louisiana, I suspect East Texas men of the cloth also have said homosexuals would all go to hell and God would punish anyone and any country that didn’t abide by his laws. In other words, God could damn America.
It also amazed me how no matter how much Obama took pains to explain the remarks, his relationship with Wright and how he disagreed, few of the media elite gave him credit. Then he gave his speech on race in which eh spoke of his love for his grandmother who had said racist comments.
While some criticized him further about “throwing his grandmother under the bus,” I think many missed why the speech was about race.
Perhaps instead of race, he should have said differences.
The difference was how Wright spoke to his congregation. Some news people came close by talking about the black radical churches, but still missed the point. All churches, even if they’re the same denomination, are different. The first time I went to a church with a guitar and drum set on stage, I almost had a heart attack. Hearing a U2 song a few years ago almost made me collapse.
But the shock of what Wright said in the aftermath of Sept. 11 was no different in spirit than what Jerry (“I remember my first time.”) Falwell and Pat (“God wants me to be president!” “No. He doesn’t.”) Robertson said that same weekend.
And the preachers supporting McCain aren’t soft and cuddly, either.
So now all the white people are scared again. Not that he’s a Muslim, but black. It was OK when he was only half black – would that be Oprah yellow? – but now he’s too black.
Whatever. I’m at the point in life where I don’t have time to educate the ignorant.
And if America can’t get past its inbred fear of anyone or anything different, then maybe Wright was right.
Maybe God will damn America.