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September 6, 2008 2:36:30 AM CDT

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Wright Takes Cross Over Racial Divide

Posted Apr 6, 08 8:39 PM CDT in Arts & Living,  Politics 

(Newser) – Barack Obama pastor Jeremiah Wright built his Chicago church on black liberation theology, which directs Christianity at African Americans, Kelefa Sanneh writes in the New Yorker. The movement’s founder aimed to “emancipate the gospel from its ‘whiteness,’” but also from Frederick Douglass’ belief that antebellum America had profoundly perverted Christianity.

In a profile of Trinity United's “rebel preacher," Sanneh touches on Wright's time in the political spotlight. "The hints of modern-day crucifixion may have been, in part, Holy Week hyperbole," Sanneh writes. "But there’s no denying the intensity of the media barrage. In a bipartisan display of umbrage, commentators on television and online have largely agreed that Wright is nutty, or insane, or worse."

Source New Yorker

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Illinois Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama, right, holds hands with church members and prays during services at Trinity United Church of Christ.   (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
A banner hangs outside Trinity United Church of Christ.   (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., speaks about race during a news conference in Philadelphia, March 18, 2008.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Jeremiah Wright - God Damn America   (jca325 (YouTube))
Jeremiah Wright (with Bill Clinton)   (New York Times)
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Barack Obama  • Kenya  • Jeremiah Wright  • Trinity United Church of Christ  • Black Power  • Frederick Douglass


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