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In his resignation letter from Trinity United Church of Christ, Barack Obama refers to the controversies surrounding the congregation as an “unfortunate distraction.” My friend Sally Vaci took special aim at this choice of language, noting “the use again of the word ‘distraction’ to dismiss a period of time equaling nearly half of Barack Obama's life. Someone should start a ‘Distraction Eruption’ squad….If the Obamas gave a hoot about true Christianity they'd start an earnest movement to FREE THE CHICAGO 8 THOUSAND -- all the poor Southside dupes at Trinity ‘Church’ who've paid for Wright's $11 million retirement and who have brought to our TV screens images of bobble-headed buffoons which frankly have destroyed any fantasies I had about racial harmony.” When Obama and his acolytes persist in dismissing any discussion of his religious orientation as a “distraction,” the question becomes a distraction from what, exactly? A presidential campaign amounts to the world’s most significant job interview for the world’s most significant job. The decision-makers (voters) need to know as much as possible about the various applicants in order to make an informed evaluation. It was Obama himself who told us that his membership in Trinity U.C.C. helped form and reveal his true character. In his first book, “Dreams of My Father,” he wrote rhapsodically about his experience in the church and his second book, “The Audacity of Hope,” proudly took its title from a sermon by Pastor Wright. Early in his campaign Obama described himself as a “devout Christian” and referred reporters to Trinity to learn more about his preferred brand of Christianity. He also cited Father Michael Pfleger as one of his three primary spiritual mentors (along with Jeremiah Wright) and until last week Pfleger played a prominent role in Obamas campaign. Apologists say that the candidate’s three years in the U.S. Senate say far more about him than his twenty years with Pastor Wright, but he’s actually done nothing as a Senator from Illinois other than launch and conduct a hugely successful presidential campaign. Then, of course, there’s the record of his years in the state senate in Illinois –-- where, as it happens, his proudest accomplishments included securing $200,000 in taxpayer money for Father Pfleger’s parish on the southwest side. For many if not most Americans, religious commitment and membership in a faith community amount to more than “distractions,” but comprise the very core, the very foundation of our lives. Even if you see his resignation from Trinity as something other than a craven act of political expediency, the ongoing embarrassments concerning Obama’s former church suggest that in his case that core, that foundation looks appallingly weird, crazed, angry and extreme. In all his attempts to distance himself from comments by Pastor Wright or Father Pfleger, the Senator merely says they don’t represent “who he is” or what “his campaign is about.” He’s never been specific in explaining what it is about the theological or political outlook of the church that now forces him to sever his ties. It’s clear that it’s more than “snippets” of sermons that requires him to terminate an association of more than two decades. But where, exactly, did the congregation go to far and what, precisely, did they do differently from the long-standing practices that purportedly inspired Obama since he first joined the community? Maybe that sort of explanation of where he disagrees with the direction and teaching of the church, combined with an explicit repudiation of its crackpot radicalism, would encourage other members of the congregation to turn away from its toxic and angry distortion of Christianity. In any event, a more detailed statement about the basis for his break could also answer questions about the candidate’s true worldview – questions that amount to far more than an “unfortunate distraction.”
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