From Within The Veil
W.E.B. DuBois said the problem of the 20th Century would be the problem of the color line; solidly within the color line in the culture of the United States stands African Americans, obscured from view by something similar to a veil -- those within are visible behind that veil, but precisely how clearly? Those within obviously see beyond that veil, but again . . . exactly how clearly? I believe the challenge of the 21st Century will prove to be the same as the challenge of the 20th Century (the color line) but with this distinct difference: the "special" burden presented by the challenge and that burden which must be shouldered will no longer be on those from without the veil. No, the special burden in the 21st Century will be on those of us within the veil. As it should be.
This is an open letter to Barack Obama and here is my central point: if you are serious about your faith, Barack, get out of this presidential election right now and get your house in order. Your only true path forward toward the Presidency is to walk away from Trinity United Church of Christ and it is a wonder you have not realized this fact, spiritually, at some point prior to announcing your desire to be President of the United States.
No man or woman who wants to be President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces can be a member of such a church.
Not one.
I think I've had something of an out-of-body experience while first watching and then contemplating different pieces of the Jeremiah Wright media tour. I bet you have, too. My response? Less is more, less is more, less is more. I've had to remind myself of this fact while trying to reason through the internal anger and bewilderment associated with my quite visceral response to the situation he has created. I have no intention of voting for you, Barack, but I want to see you do well. Genuinely. I also know that it will be difficult to walk into that voting booth in November if you still have a viable shot at the presidency and not vote for you.
However, under present circumstances you make it supremely easy to not vote for you regardless of whether you have a viable shot at winning or not.
The fact of the matter on a glorious first day of May is this: baldilocks spoke rather well for me on this subject and, by and large, I've not been able to improve on her words. If you haven't read her piece, you should.
That said, the real problem for you with respect to Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the May 2008 problem (obviously, there is the potential for further bizarre developments), is that you consciously attached YOURSELF to Jeremiah Wright some 20-plus years ago . . . all because you (or Michelle, perhaps) was captured -- apparently -- by our love of spectacle. And the sight of a prancing Jeremiah Wright -- in the pulpit, no less -- had to be quite a sight to behold. Now, the entirely predictable has occurred: that spectacle is crashing in on you. And the sight of you with your wife these days? Quite a spectacle, too. Trying to maintain, and move forward, as though this is just some kind of bimbo eruption. This is no simple bimbo eruption! The American voting public has quite a bit of experience in their personal lives (or that of friends and extended family) with that sort of problematic event.
The voting public has absolutely no experience with this kind of foolishness.
Regarding baldilocks' blog post, I do take issue with one major point she made. She indicated support, if I recall correctly, for the proposition that there is no "black church." I strongly disagree.
Barack, remember this central fact: when you failed to step away from your first choice of church in Chicago and, as a quite viable alternative, failed to involve yourself with any of the literally hundreds of mainstream A.M.E. or Missionary Baptist or Church of God in Christ congregations (these are the big denominations most African Americans attend, along with some Roman Catholic and United Methodist Church congregations) all over Chicagoland and, instead, remained attached to Rev. Wright's cause, his fortunes, his solutions, and his grievances -- it communicated a central truth about you. However, choosing to remain in Trinity United Church of Christ for all these years communicates THE central truth about you and it implicates an unseriousness about your Christian faith relative to your more devout adherence to the politics of liberation theology.
Think about that, Barack.
If you win the Democrat Party nomination this year, every voter in the upcoming Presidential election will have to decide precisely what is the calculation between your Christian faith and the murky tenets of liberation theology, and this will not be good for you. I suspect Republicans are more than willing to sit on this particular fact, saving the more explicit and explosive discussion that must be had for the general election. Still, it is a devastating weakness for you that cannot and will not be finessed away by some talented political handler.
I was raised in an old-school, tiny Primitive Baptist Church, Barack, and I confess I'm a troubled sinner who has not had a born-again experience. I don't write as a Christian authority and the material that follows was cobbled together from websites I can't now itemize. Take that for what it's worth. I do, however, contend that I have a fairly good understanding of the black mainstream (religious, political and otherwise) in our great nation. As such, I am not unfamiliar with the black church.
In that black church there is wide variation across many denominations with quite diverse traditions of tolerance, or the lack thereof, for ostentatious emoting -- the kind exhibited by Jeremiah Wright. However, there is also wide agreement in those churches that Christianity's basis is dual, with a related guiding instruction that serves as a third component. What is that basis?
[1] Mosaic law (the Ten Commandments, first five books of the Old Testament, etc.) and, from the New Testament,
[2] the fact that the “victim” (Jesus Christ) already sacrificed himself. Of paramount importance is the teaching found in John 3:16 -- for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The rest of us are supposed to live up to that undeserved sacrifice, and the price of redemption is forgiveness of everyone else. African Americans are a very forgiving people. Properly understood, this forgiveness is a kind of a one-shot cure for the politics of victimology and is administered through the utilization of standard Christian theology, which Liberation Theology obviously isn't.
Liberation theology, including the derivative black liberation theology, ignores the instruction from Christ that:
[3] we are to render unto Caesar that which is his and we are to render unto God that which is His. Although Christians the world-over certainly argue about this point, it is fundamentally true that Christ came to preach the gospel to those who are poor in spirit, to heal those who are brokenhearted over sin, to proclaim liberty from the bondage of sin and Satan, to recover spiritual eyesight, to set at liberty those who are oppressed by Satan, and to proclaim the dawn of the new order where grace is offered to all now.
The human soul, in other words, is the focus and salvation is the key.
Liberation theology hopelessly confuses all of this, perhaps purposefully, and seems to be quite indifferent to any commonly accepted understanding of the ultimate mission of Jesus Christ. Work in the here and now for a just world? Yes. But making the be-all and end-all of Christianity the elimination of earthly poverty and the imposition of earthly justice? No.
Liberation theology is “this world” in focus and devoid of “other world” emphasis. Christians are taught God’s primary concern, however, is not with this world and our deliverance from earthly oppression but, rather, God’s primary concern is with eternity and your salvation from sin, Satan, and death. The genius of America, of course, is that it allows for many cultures to exist side by side. "E pluribus unum" (out of many, one) is the guiding principle.
Barack, many Americans are rightly wary of identity politics because they know the freedom to engage in such an orientation leads inevitably to a Jeremiah Wright arriving on the scene. That, however, is the simultaneous strength and weakness of the republican form of our democratic government and is, ultimately, our heritage as a nation. That heritage (that genius!), however, requires an understanding from its citizenry that is threatened by black liberation theology.
Barack, I'll close with reference to a man I do not know. Stephen Marmer, in a phenomenally good response at American Digest to a great post from Gerard van der Leun on the attempted mainstreaming of race hustling by Jeremiah Wright, wrote this:
Wright basically asserted that there is inborn biological difference between those of European stock and those of African stock that culture and education cannot overcome.
I believe that biology is important. I believe that culture -- deep culture -- is important. I believe that education is important. The balance among these elements is even more important. But the consequences of the view that there are innate biological differences that trump culture and education is very dangerous.
I do not believe a civil society democratically constituted can withstand such a view. Democracy as we know it in America, that goes beyond mere plebiscite and extends to freedom of speech, of association, to reliable contracts, fair courts, rule of law, and the notion that no one should, on the basis of biological characteristics alone, be excluded from full citizenship rights, cannot withstand the notion that there are innate biological differences between races that trump our common culture and our universal standards of education.
I, too, commented in that thread and my focus was to (1) compliment Marmer, (2) note that a little bit of knowledge is still a very dangerous thing, and I'm fully aware I may have exhibited the problem in this open letter. I also (3) proclaimed the growing embarrassment that was Jeremiah Wright, and (4) acknowledged that I keep wondering what manner of preacher is this Jeremiah Wright? It was clear to me that he obviously doesn't understand boundaries or his own
self-evident limitations. What about you, Barack?
Reverend Wright's attempt to make the negative reaction to his situation out to be an attack on the black church is absurd, and I suspect you know that. Much discussion has been generated during this primary of a possible Clintonian strategy looking toward the election cycle of 2012. I happen to think that strategy works much better for you than it does for Hillary Clinton.
Take a step back, think about the entirety of your life, the centrality of your faith, and do the right thing: 2012, not 2008. Standard Christian theology, not black liberation theology. That is the path forward. I pray that you see it, and once seen, take it.
Nice post. Great comments over at BC as well. Thanks!
Posted by: Chris | May 03, 2008 at 12:44 AM