The Political Inquirer

I have sat befuddled the past few weeks while I listened to radio and television commentators, journalist, and politicians tell America what he/she believes Senator Barack Obama should have done after the politically incorrect homily of Reverend Jeremiah Wright made its way to YouTube viewers everywhere.

As an individual who has been raised and continues to participate in a local church community I am surprised that so many people–especially Senator Hillary Clinton–would call for Obama to disassociate from the church he has been attending for twenty years and to completely denounce the man who has been his pastor all these years.

As much as we all want this story to die, it hasn’t. And I believe this is in part a confusion within our culture regarding community–especially religious community. We have become so accustom to the politically incorrect voices within Evangelicalism–such as Pat Robertson, John Hagee, or the late Jerry Falwell–that we assume the nature of these men’s public persona is in the same category as your average American pastor.

Actually this is not the case. The Joel Osteen figures are a minority. Most pastors in American are flawed men and women with a deep commitment to their faith and to the communities that they serve. Very few are television superstars. Even less are completely corrupted by sex and money scandals–though the media would never spend as much time highlighting the good done by these religious leaders.

I believe part of the confusion surrounding this ordeal stems from three things: (1) The dissolving of community, (2) a consumer culture, and (3) failure to realize the role of the American pastor.

First, we are not the same society we used to be. More and more people live on the other side of the country away from parents and grandparents than in times past. As a resident of San Francisco I am completely familiar with the type of person who just wanted to get away from it all, so he or she moved to a location where, contrary Cheers, no one knows your name.

This me-first mindset is not wrong or right, per se. People have to do what people have to do, go where they have to go, and make sure they take the opportunities that come their way. But few would deny that the concept of community was the first fatality.

For those of us who have found community in some social club, in a local pub, or in a church, we cling on to what we have found. If someone stand by you year after year after year you stand by them despite their flaws.

We Americans are too quick to cover out own backsides. We are a disloyal bunch to say the least. We divorce like there is no tomorrow. We can’t even root for the same ball team too long without jumping on another bandwagon.

The idea than Senator Obama should burn bridges because people who have loved and supported him way before he had presidential ambitions is, in my opinion, wrong. As Obama said, to deny these people who have made him who he is just isn’t that simple.

Second, we are a consumer culture. This is why the phenomenon of the mega church has arisen so quickly in America. We want to go from home to work isolated in our vehicles so that we can watch television alone without interacting with others. It is simple. It brings pleasure. It cost less than talking with someone for several hours.

We want our religion that way too! We don’t want to struggle with the oddities of those people who attend our local church, synagogue, mosque, or temple. We just want to be part of the crowd. We want religious goods; we do not want to join a community where we have to actually live life with others.

Finally, the role of the American pastor has often been misunderstood. And so what I am about to say here is not also misunderstood I want to clarify that what Wright said was probably not in the best taste and not something I myself would have wanted to hear from my own pastor.

But the problem in American churches has not been that we have too many pastors calling American out for her own hypocrisy. The problem is too many American pastors have bowed a knee to the idol of nationalism. When Robertson judges American tragedy on the basis of personal moral issues, that is one thing. But Wright has called America out for her social sins. And though I am not comfortable speaking for God here and there, and though I think Wright’s comments were a little paranoid at times, it is more prophetic and more aligned with the tradition of his faith to warn a people that we can’t exploit the world and be a warmongering nation and expect any type of favor from the Christian God. Whether or not you adhere to this God, what is worse that what Wright preached, is the idea that God blesses America–and screws everyone else.

Maybe the American pastor should recognize the “separation of church and state” and never call out social evils. Maybe. But that is an attempt to force a dichotomy on pastors–forcing them to privatize faith–that is foreign to a religion that should call for justice and equality.

Maybe the problem isn’t so much what Wright said as the hint of truth we find in his exaggerated statements. Wright reminded us that God is not the God of America only–and this is not something we like to hear. Especially because so many religious leaders in our country have forgotten to remind us over the years.