Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11

Obama's Pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Has a History of What Even Obama's Campaign Aides Say Is 'Inflammatory Rhetoric'

By BRIAN ROSS and REHAB EL-BURI

March 13, 2008—

Sen. Barack Obama's pastor says blacks should not sing "God Bless America" but "God damn America."

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor for the last 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's south side, has a long history of what even Obama's campaign aides concede is "inflammatory rhetoric," including the assertion that the United States brought on the 9/11 attacks with its own "terrorism."

In a campaign appearance earlier this month, Sen. Obama said, "I don't think my church is actually particularly controversial." He said Rev. Wright "is like an old uncle who says things I don't always agree with," telling a Jewish group that everyone has someone like that in their family.

Rev. Wright married Obama and his wife Michelle, baptized their two daughters and is credited by Obama for the title of his book, "The Audacity of Hope."

An ABC News review of dozens of Rev. Wright's sermons, offered for sale by the church, found repeated denunciations of the U.S. based on what he described as his reading of the Gospels and the treatment of black Americans.

"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people," he said in a 2003 sermon. "God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

In addition to damning America, he told his congregation on the Sunday after Sept. 11, 2001 that the United States had brought on al Qaeda's attacks because of its own terrorism.

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Rev. Wright said in a sermon on Sept. 16, 2001.

"We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost," he told his congregation.

Sen. Obama told the New York Times he was not at the church on the day of Rev. Wright's 9/11 sermon. "The violence of 9/11 was inexcusable and without justification," Obama said in a recent interview. "It sounds like he was trying to be provocative," Obama told the paper.

Rev. Wright, who announced his retirement last month, has built a large and loyal following at his church with his mesmerizing sermons, mixing traditional spiritual content and his views on contemporary issues.

"I wouldn't call it radical. I call it being black in America," said one congregation member outside the church last Sunday.

"He has impacted the life of Barack Obama so much so that he wants to portray that feeling he got from Rev. Wright onto the country because we all need something positive," said another member of the congregation.

Rev. Wright, who declined to be interviewed by ABC News, is considered one of the country's 10 most influential black pastors, according to members of the Obama campaign.

Obama has praised at least one aspect of Rev. Wright's approach, referring to his "social gospel" and his focus on Africa, "and I agree with him on that."

Sen. Obama declined to comment on Rev. Wright's denunciations of the United States, but a campaign religious adviser, Shaun Casey, appearing on "Good Morning America" Thursday, said Obama "had repudiated" those comments.

In a statement to ABCNews.com, Obama's press spokesman Bill Burton said, "Sen. Obama has said repeatedly that personal attacks such as this have no place in this campaign or our politics, whether they're offered from a platform at a rally or the pulpit of a church. Sen. Obama does not think of the pastor of his church in political terms. Like a member of his family, there are things he says with which Sen. Obama deeply disagrees. But now that he is retired, that doesn't detract from Sen. Obama's affection for Rev. Wright or his appreciation for the good works he has done."

Conservative talking head Sean Hannity was the first to expose Barack Obama’s preacher, Jeremiah Wright, for his controversial and racist rants he has made during sermons, on the church’s website, and in his writings.

Wright married Barack and his wife Michelle. He baptizes Barack’s two daughters and has been Obama’s pastor for more than twenty years. He is even credited in Barack’s book, The Audacity of Hope, and the title actually came from one of Wright’s sermons.

I have tried to gather and compile some of the more inflammatory remarks from Wright below. If I have missed any of his most outrageous rants then please feel free to drop a comment with it below.

All Quotes Attributed to Pastor Jeremiah Wright

“We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye.”

 

“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.” (Sep 2001)

 

“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.” (2003)

 

“In the 21st century, white America got a wake-up call after 9/11/01. White America and the western world came to realize that people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just ‘disappeared’ as the Great White West kept on its merry way of ignoring black concerns.” (magazine article)

 

“Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run!…We [in the U.S.] believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God.” (sermon)

 

“Barack knows what it means living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people. Hillary would never know that. Hillary ain’t never been called a nigger. Hillary has never had a people defined as a non-person.”

 

“Hillary is married to Bill, and Bill has been good to us. No he ain’t! Bill did us, just like he did Monica Lewinsky. He was riding dirty.” (sermon)

 

“The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for over 40 years now. Divestment has now hit the table again as a strategy to wake the business community and wake up Americans concerning the injustice and the racism under which the Palestinians have lived because of Zionism.”

Wright Caught on Video

Photo of President Bill Clinton with Rev. Wright

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdJB-qkfUHc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPjVp3PLnVs

It is all about Senator Obama's lack of leadership and judgement.

So it is that Senator Obama is the candidate for change, huh? He heard his pastor make remarks that he knew were controversial. Senator Obama heard his pastor make statements that he strongly disagreed with. After a twenty-year relationship with the pastor did the Senator not know of his spiritual leader"s underlying ideology? Did the Senator not realize that this ideology was in it self divisive. Did he not know Pastor Wright"s statements were divisive? Does Senator Obama not realize that stereo typing people is divisive? All Senator Obama has done is widen the racial divide in this country.

Were the Senator serious about closing the racial divide a good starting point might have been his own church starting about 20 years ago. Yet, in all those years he was unable or incapable of closing the racial gap. Is that the sign of a leader?

How in the world can anyone possibly believe the Senator from Illinois can bring about change or racial understanding when he can"t even do it within his own church? Its odd that given Senator Obama"s position of power that his opinion was never sought by the leadership councils of Trinity Church. And if, for the sake of argument, his input was sought why was it ignored? I mean after all he does possess powerful leadership abilities, right?

Senator Obama"s church produced a CD titled "The Best of Pastor Wright". A CD that it proudly offered for sale to the public. Am I to believe that the church did not give its best-known and most politically powerful member a copy? Am I to believe that Senator Obama never watched that CD or any member of his staff? I find that impossible to believe.

As it turns out Senator Obama tried his best to hide Pastor Wright from the American public. So much for his alleged honesty and openness.

Certainly, I haven"t led the privileged life in America as Michel Obama has. Yet, I have always been proud of America all of my adult life. For more than 40 years I have been proud to be a citizen of the freest country in the world. I have been proud to a member of the most open society on earth. I am pound to be a part of a culture that allows everyone to freely express their opinion regardless of how hateful and division that opinion might be. Had I not been I would have relocated. If you don"t like it here there are always options.