Jeremiah Wright
Jeremiah Wright
Jeremiah Alvesta Wright junioris a pastor emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, with a congregation exceeding 6,000. In early 2008, Wright retired after 36 years as the Senior Pastor and no longer has daily responsibilities at the church. Following retirement, Wright's beliefs and preaching were scrutinized when segments of his sermons were publicized in connection with the presidential campaign of Barack Obama. Obama addressed the issues raised by the Wright controversy in his speech entitled "A More...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionReligious Leader
Date of Birth22 September 1941
CityPhiladelphia, PA
CountryUnited States of America
We started the AIDS virus. We are only able to maintain our level of living by making sure that Third World people live in grinding poverty.
We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost.
In the 21st century, white America got a wake-up call after 9/11/01. White America and the western world came to realize that people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just 'disappeared' as the Great White West kept on its merry way of ignoring black concerns.
Barack Obama's a politician, I'm a pastor. We speak to two different audiences.
America is still the No. 1 killer in the world.
We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye,” Wright said. “We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost.
I think that criticism is unjustified. It's a cute term, but noone shouldn't be criticized for who he is.
Faith should be pulled into the public arena when it affects how we live. If it doesn't, it does no earthly good. What does my faith say about the fact that a girl can't be a nuclear physicist because she's black and from the inner city? My faith says, no, that's not what God intended. It pulls it back into the public arena the idea that there's got to be something fair for all of us.
It gets to be a problem when I decide one position should be the law for everybody. In public life, we [people] have to find a way to live together even though we disagree - and some things we will never agree on. But we've got to leave this I'm-going-to-kill-you-because-you-don't-believe-what-I-believe attitude behind.
Being at odds with policies is nothing new to me.
Faith in public life does not mean that God tells you to bomb another country or to go get Saddam Hussein. Faith in public life means that every child, regardless of their religious belief, should have health care and be able to go to school. Because my faith saying I can bomb Iraq is the same as your faith saying you can take over a passenger plane and fly it into the World Trade Center.
You should understand that private faith does not force public decisions. That's how you work at compromise. I haven't given up what I believe, but I live in community - in a city, state, nation, and world - with people who don't believe what I believe. That doesn't make them defective or inferior.
Price above Principle makes you a Prostitute.
I continue to be a pastor who speaks to the people of God about the things of God.