Monday, March 24, 2008

SORRY IT IS RACISM!

Frank Schaeffer

When Sen. Obama’s preacher thundered about racism and injustice, Obama suffered smear-by-association. But when my late father - religious right leader Francis Schaeffer denounced America and even called for the violent overthrow of the U.S. government, he was invited to lunch with presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush Sr.—Frank Schaeffer

Frank Schaeffer a convert to the Eastern Orthodox Church is calling all those who are bashing Senator Obama for associating with Pastor Jeremiah Wright Hypocrites. Why? Because according to Schaeffer Whites are smearing Sen. Obama by association and they are holding his pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright to a double standard.

Schaeffer is suggesting that White people have been motivated by Racism because according to Schaeffer they are trying to keep the first viable Black candidate for President from achieving the goal of becoming president by racial means. Schaeffer also blames the right wing and Hillary Clinton for being complicit in the smearing Sen. Obama by association.

You’ve all have heard the incessant droning on about Senator Obama’s Pastor and why Senator Obama’s attendance at his church makes Obama a racist.

You all know of the hours upon hours that Rush, Fox News and my fellow Conservatives have put into this story dubbed pastorgate.

Yet, according to Schaeffer white Republican preachers cursed American all the time in the 1970s and 1980s, and he and his dad, Francis Schaeffer, crisscrossed America with a message denouncing our nation’s sins, but contrary to Rev. Wright’s experience, instead of getting in trouble they became darlings of the Republican Party. It was never called hate speech or anti-Americanism then. It was called a wake up call to the nation. Just what I’m I talking about?

The late Francis Schaeffer


Frank Schaeffer has recently come forward and argues that "right-wing preachers as his dad often did, preached that we are, 'under the judgment of God.' They call America evil and warn of imminent destruction. By comparison, Schaeffer says, Obama's minister's shouted 'controversial' comments were mild. (Can you imagine that?)

Every Sunday thousands of right-wing white preachers (following in my father’s footsteps), says Schaeffer, and rail against America’s sins from tens of thousands of pulpits. They tell us that America is complicit in the “murder of the unborn,” has become “Sodom” by coddling gays, and that our public schools are sinful places full of evolutionists and sex educators hell-bent on corrupting children.

What’s so amazing is that so many whites have feigned as if they never heard such preaching as Rev. Wright’s, as if his preaching were an anomaly that just comes out of the Black churches.

Which is surprising to Schaffer because he states that this type of America condemnation, this type of social commentary from the pulpit has its roots in the heart of the rock rim conservative sanctified and holy white churches of America of the 70’s and 80’s. How quickly we forget, Amen?

For those of you that read this blog you know that I said that this type of attack on Sen. Obama would come back to haunt Conservatives. And now the stench of Conservative hypocrisy is wafting through the air as this new revelation is unfolding.

Instead of asking the germane questions, who leaked the sermons of Rev. Wright, and for what purpose, we have been willingly lead down the path of 50’s and 60’s racial divides without putting up the slightest form of resistance. So what does that say about us?

The whole national narrative changed from Hillary’s red phone and lack of real foreign crisis experience to Sen. Obama’s pastor and race.

Here I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again Sen. Obama did not use his race as Sen. Clinton used her gender in this campaign but Sen. Obama’s race was always brought up by President Clinton, Sen. Clinton surrogates and the media.

The leaked sermons of Rev. Wright made it virtually impossible for Sen. Obama to avoid discussing race any longer, so the Senator from Illinois spoke as honestly about the subject as any politician has in recent memory, he offered hope and suggestions than would once and for all heal this nations wounded racial torn past.

Yet haters call Sen. Obama a reverse racist for his efforts. And in addition to that Sen. Obama was called un-American for attending a hate mongering, anti-American church.

Now it is revealed, according to Frank Schaeffer, that white churches all across America sermonized in this America condemnation kind of rhetoric all thorough the 70’s and 80’s and Schaeffer knows of which he speaks because he claims that he and his father were apart of it.

Now that the self-righteous and the holier-than-thou Obama bashing is slowly subsiding maybe we can have a mature discussion about the direction that this country is going in and about who we will chose to lead us in this confusing and volatile time in America.

To be sure, if we continue to allow the politics of the racist past to dominate the politics of our present we will continue in the back to the future attitudes of divisiveness that our Grandparents knew.

16 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:22 AM

    Al:

    The mention of Frank Schaeffer got my attention.

    My issue is that Judgement. O'Reilly said so. Hannity said so. Even Colms said so.

    Not once did you say anything about the proper reaction to a Preacher who gets as far out of line as Wright did. I favored defrocking and excommunicating him.

    I do not differentiate between listening to participating in one of Wright's services and Burning a Cross. When someone crosses the line in this manner, my continued participation reflects upon my JUDGEMENT.

    O Great one of Long Dreadlocks, What would you do when your shepard stats spouting the bangarang?

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  2. Anon,
    I bet it did! And had you done more than a cursory glance you would have read that Thousands of white American churches in the 70's and 80's preached this kind of anti-American message and according to your standards that means that hundreds of thousands of white American Christian’s judgment is now called into question for not insisting that their pastors were defrocked and or excommunicated O Holier-than-thou, bearer of double standard!

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  3. Anonymous9:03 AM

    There is another alternative. If you don't like what the standard stands for, dump it. If you can't dump it overtly, at least dump it covertly. There is opposition and there is resistance. Opposition is what you can do covertly and legally to prevent evil. Resistance is what you do when Opposition is an not available to you.

    H.B. Gisivius, a Gestopo Agent and arthor of "To the Bitter End", goes into such moral problems. He was one of the few survivors of the July 20th Plot, aka Operation Valkyrie.

    I'm not going to simply say "Naughty Naughty" for something this. I ask again, what would be the appropriate path to oppose the evil of "Reverend" Jeremiah Wright and his False Theology? What are the Moral Imperatives? Do I really want to march with him under the same banner, any banner? morally repugnant.

    BTW, who said that I was White? I'm not even Protestant. Let's just say that I have some Asiatic forebears, like Composer Alexander Borodin.

    Enough Labrish, answer my questions, Massive Matey.

    f4 f5
    e4 g6
    ef gf
    Qh6++

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  4. Anonymous11:11 AM

    I also remind you that Frankie Schaeffer along with a few friends like Jack Sparks bailed when he realized that what was being preached wasn not Christianity.

    I ask again, when are you going to bail out on the notion that Jeremiah Wright is a Christain? What must Wright do? Does he don a hood an burn a Cross, or don a Turban and burn a Synagogue? Does he preach a fishnet brazierre with naughty nipples an a pair of knickers with hip high silk stockings? Just how much more outrageous must he get?

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  5. Boy now you're comedy!

    I reserve judgment on another man's religion. As Jefferson would!

    And given the fact that Jeremiah Wright is now retired and no longer preaching it's all a moot issue any ways.

    Only those who want to race bait and hate are still consumed with the topic.

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  6. Anonymous11:53 AM

    OK, I take it that you would not walk out on ANY Preacher, no matter what provocation, outrageous statement, or othe balderdash is being spoken. You have not said where you draw the line and I'm beginning to see that you won't draw it anywhere.

    That's too Relativistic for me. I know I voted Democrat last month, but I ain't that Liberal.

    Unless I see that you are willing to draw a line somewhere as to what is Christain and what is not, I'm going to lose interest.

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  7. Anon,
    Sorry I confused you. I have attempted to speak to the political and relevent issues of this story.

    If you want to talk religion then maybe Nicene Truth is more to your liking.

    If the subject is religion you will find that I'm quite able to carry the conversation.

    However this subject is not and I will not be baited into a discussion on theology as Obama was baited into a discuss on race in the first place.

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  8. Anonymous1:21 PM

    That's some progress. I'll keep this as ADOCTRINAL as possible.

    Let's just say that Wright said some pretty nasty things under color of Religion. In the 60s, many a Southern Pastor was a Klansman and preached their sympathies under color of Religion.

    When do you say to the Reverend, "You've gone too far. You're speaking Politics. You're not Preaching the Gospel, which is what you were hired to do. You are making the Church Membership look like buffoons. It's time for you to go. We don't intend to be judged for your drivel. You've got 15 minutes before the Parish Council (or other governing body) convenes to tender your resignation. If you need assistance with your packing, we'll call the Sheriff."

    In the average Church, rregardless of Doctrine, this kind of Pastoral Malpractice is invariably ended within 3 years in similar manner.

    In this country, even the most Liberal Congregation would roll out the Red Carpet in the direction of the EXIT for a Pastor who reflects poorly upon them, as Wright did. Were Wright canned 10-15 years ago, I would have no problems with Obama's Judgement.

    Answer me this: If I confessed (albeit wrongly) to Obama that my Paster was a Kleegle for 20 years, how would he react? On the other hand, the reaction would be different if I had to confess to Obama that my last Pastor was canned after three years of this Malpractice.

    As it stands, I have to ask Obama, "You patiently put up with THAT for 20 Years? Now, I have a good idea of how you will patiently tolerate unprovoked Iranian Nuclear Attacks."

    I don't want the next President to have a short fuse or to be fuseless, but to have a "sufficiently long" fuse. I want the President to take action given sufficient provocation. Where has Obama shown himself to even have a fuse?

    Here's where we agree. Obama is a DO NOTHING type of Person. I differ in that I used the Wright Flap to come to my conclusion.

    I'm going to take a break for a while. If you want me around, I'll tell you how I'm going to use the Real Clear Politics Polling Data as input for Chromatic Polynomials and the Binomial Theorem to determine the odds of the McCain/Democrat-to-be-determined race. Get you book on Combinatorics out. This will be Math, not Punditry. I'll be mixing Apples, Oranges, Grapefruit, Cocoanut, Raisons, Honey, etc. . . .

    Don't get your Dreadlocks in a Tangle, Sista!

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  9. Anon,
    The only answer to your incessant obsession on Obama's religious affairs is this:

    "Our particular principles of religion are a subject of accountability to God alone. I inquire after no man's, and trouble none with mine." --Thomas Jefferson to Miles King, 1814. ME 14:198

    "I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Dowse, 1803. ME 10:378

    "Religion is a subject on which I have ever been most scrupulously reserved. I have considered it as a matter between every man and his Maker in which no other, and far less the public, had a right to intermeddle." --Thomas Jefferson to Richard Rush, 1813.

    "From the dissensions among Sects themselves arise necessarily a right of choosing and necessity of deliberating to which we will conform. But if we choose for ourselves, we must allow others to choose also, and so reciprocally, this establishes religious liberty." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Religion, 1776. Papers 1:545

    “…Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions…” -Thomas Jefferson, letter to Danbury Baptist Association, CT., Jan. 1,1802

    Put down the math and do some reading in American History!

    Better yet stick around you may learn something!

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  10. Anonymous2:24 PM

    "From the dissensions among Sects themselves arise necessarily a right of choosing and necessity of deliberating to which we will conform. But if we choose for ourselves, we must allow others to choose also, and so reciprocally, this establishes religious liberty." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Religion, 1776. Papers 1:545

    This begs another of my points. It's nice Theoretically, but can I actually rely upon Obama (or for that matter Clinton of the Branch Davadian Massacre at Waco) to keep within Jefferson's Guidelines? In the past, I've had to put up with an Employer who would not let me observe my Easter, aka Pascha or Good Friday. (This year, it's on April 27th.) I've had to put up with Gung-Ho Fundies who thought I was some kind of heretic fro this. Fortunately, the Catholics whom I currently associate with are far more tolerant.

    PS: I am a little rusty with Statistical Methods, but I do know my Chromatic Polynomials. If you like, I'll explin them in May. Just know that theres going to be some hetroskedasticity in the States who voted after March 4th to bias the data.

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  11. This whole debate is ridiculous!!!!

    White churches blamed the US government, and said that we would be punished. I don't recall ONE saying that "the government invented HIV and planted it in the black community.

    For Obama to have been present in the church for such perverted statements, or just be associated with them (as I am sure that he knew about them) has the same effect.

    Call it 'guilt by association' or any other name. This was the poorest of judgement on Obama's part. He is not qualified to be President, nor even a Senator in this country!

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  12. Brook,

    According to Frank Schaeffer White ministers called for the armed overthrow of the Government!!! Where did Wright say anything as outrageous as that?

    Inciting armed revolution by white ministers is far worst than anything that Wright has said.

    Yet you wouldn't acknowledge that there has been a historic record of this kind of incendiary preaching in the white community! Wright is not the first and he won't be the last. So you’re now trying to parse the racial things Wright said from the Anti-American things that Whites have said? Don’t forget that we have plenty of racial preaching in America that White preachers stated that being Black was the mark of Cain.

    White people sat under that racist preaching for hundreds of years!

    Bottom-line is white people sat and listened to this kind of anti-government rhetoric, hundreds of thousands of white people did, and they also have listened to sermons deriding Blacks as inferior beings so t you really don't have a case against Obama!

    All that I’ve ever said is that Conservatives are going way overboard on this and it is going to bite us big time.

    You got to accept it or admit that you have a double standard for Obama and Wright that's all!

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  13. Anonymous8:01 PM

    Someone on this board has suggested that I need to study my American History. I've read My American History. Let's see if you can keep up with me. Here are some puzzlers for you:

    1) Who was the only President ever to haved served as a Sheriff? What was his Phone Number?

    2) In this clause of the Declaration of Independance "For protecting them [the British Soldiers at the Boston Massacre], by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States", what Shyster Lawyer who later became President was being personnally attacked?

    3) What President came up with his own proof of the Pythagorean Theorem?

    4) Who was the first President of German extraction to be elected President?

    5) Ronald Reagan is to Dan Quayle as Andrew Jackson is to whom?

    6) What President coauthored a book on Economic Theory which he later ignored to his woe?

    7) Who was the last Secretary of State to become President?

    8) Who was the actual first Genetic Black to become President?

    9) Which President said "No Man ever Steals the Presidency"?

    10) Who said "Democracy is a very bad form of Government, but all of the others are so much worse"?

    Bonus Question: Who is famous for pounding his shoe on the Table at the UN?

    Lots of Luck, Alphie!

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  14. Anonymous8:40 AM

    OK, maybe some of my puzzlers were a little easy for you. The really hard question about the Sheriff-Presdent's phone number deserves a hint. Back then, people acullay had single digit phone numbers. Zero was reserved for the Operator. The Sheriff-President wanted to make his phone number obvious because if something went wrong, he wanted to be the first to be told about it.

    One last point. I will stipulate that Frank Schaeffer, Billy Graham, et. al. were more out of line than Wright in their ponouncements. That is NOT where my NON-Double standard applies. It is that he (at least Frank Schaefer) repented. Wright continues to babble GD America without repenting. That is where MY Standard Applies.

    Yes, I know about "Judge not, least you be Judged", but read the next verse, "Whatever standard you mete out it shall be meeted unto you". This is the standard that I'm living with.

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  15. Well, well there may be hope for you yet.

    I'm delightfully surprised.

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  16. Anonymous11:15 AM

    Good to see that you've untangled your dreadlocks, sista!

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