Wright Sermons Weren't 'Black Equivalent of a Klan Rally'

Barack Obama’s pastor is a good man, says a fellow churchgoer, and though his “going off on white America” kept T. Shawn Taylor—a black woman—from inviting white friends to worship, it didn’t stop her from marrying a white man. Taylor writes in the Chicago Tribune that whites may be “tired of walking on eggshells” around blacks, but don’t knock Wright too much.

Wright's “sermons weren’t the black equivalent of a Klan rally”; indeed, he used scripture to rail against Bible-thumping homophobes and misogynists. Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ does have an “Afro-centric flare,” but it’s simply not a “hate whitey” institution. Taylor says she hopes the Wright flap opens a dialogue instead of shutting the door on Obama’s candidacy. (More Barack Obama stories.)