Well -- some people still love Rev. Wright

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/529891.html

"The Rev. David Barber, pastor of First Congregational Church of Fort Worth, a United Church of Christ congregation, said his church uses a call to worship taken from Wright's church, which begins, "Beautiful are the works of God! Beautiful are the skins of God's people! Beautiful is the mind of God! Beautiful are the hopes of God's people!""
Friday, Mar 21, 2008
Posted on Fri, Mar. 14, 2008
Obama's spiritual mentor rides into Fort Worth on tide of controversy

By JIM JONES
STAR-TELEGRAM
We can get a close-up and personal look later this month at the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., an eloquent and sometimes controversial preacher and author who is pastor to Sen. Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey.

Wright, who built Trinity United Church of Christ from a small group to a 6,000-member congregation, the largest in his denomination, will be in Fort Worth to speak at Texas Christian University's Brite Divinity School. He will accept the Black Leadership Award offered by the divinity school during its "State of the Black Church" conference March 28-29.
Wright was thrust into the spotlight Thursday evening after ABC News aired his comments in a 2003 sermon that blacks should sing "God d America" instead of "God bless America."
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday denounced Wright's remarks.
Brite, however, is pleased to honor him at the conference, Dean Nancy Ramsay said, citing his numerous contributions to the life of the black church and thus to the larger U.S. religious community. In recent years, he was a much-appreciated speaker at the annual Ministers Week sponsored by Brite, TCU and University Christian Church, she said in an e-mail Friday evening.
"As with any of the speakers we invite, Brite does not necessarily agree with all of the views they express," Ramsay said.

The Chicago minister has gotten much attention and both praise and criticism since it became known he was Obama's mentor and pastor. Obama revealed in the Chicago Tribune that the title of his 2006 book, The Audacity of Hope, was inspired by a 1988 sermon by Wright.

In excerpts from that book that ran in Time magazine, Obama says that while attending Wright's church, he recognized that he wasn't required to suspend critical thinking or abandon the battle for social justice to become a Christian.
"It was because of these newfound understandings ... that I was able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ one day and be baptized," he wrote.
He continued: "The questions I had did not magically disappear. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt God's spirit beckoning me, I submitted myself to his will."

'Unashamedly black'
Although hailed as a modern-day prophet by some, Wright, 66, has caught flak on conservative Web sites and on talk shows.

Some participants on the Hannity & Colmes Fox News show March 1 asked whether he was a black separatist because he is a proponent of black liberation theology.
Sharp questioning came about his church's motto, "Unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian."
Wright said later on his Web site that his church welcomes people of all races while affirming the church's African roots. He said many are ignorant of black liberation theology, which has been around for centuries but began being "systematized" in 1969.
Lawrence H. Mamiya, professor of religion at Vassar College and co- author with C. Eric Lincoln of The Black Church in the African American Experience, defined black liberation theology as "an attempt to lift people out of despair" by reaffirming contributions of Africans and African-Americans.
North Texas welcome
Interviewed before the ABC News segment aired, local residents said plenty of people will be cheering Wright on when he comes to Fort Worth.
"All those (criticisms) of Dr. Wright are just political statements," said the Rev. Nehemiah Davis, a Fort Worth civil rights leader and pastor of Mount Pisgah Baptist Church. "People are trying to find flaws and say Obama is in the wrong kind of church."

The Rev. David Barber, pastor of First Congregational Church of Fort Worth, a United Church of Christ congregation, said his church uses a call to worship taken from Wright's church, which begins, "Beautiful are the works of God! Beautiful are the skins of God's people! Beautiful is the mind of God! Beautiful are the hopes of God's people!"
A Fort Worth activist minister, the Rev. Michael Bell, pastor of Greater St. Stephens First Church, said Wright gets backlash because he "speaks truth to power." Bell added: "Dr. Wright is standing in the prophetic tradition of the African-American church by saying things that might be abrasive to some but are empowering to others."

Misunderstood ministry
The Rev. Frederick D. Haynes calls Wright his mentor and spiritual father. Haynes, pastor of the 10,000-member Friendship West Baptist Church in southwest Dallas, says he appreciates Wright's "phenomenal but misunderstood ministry."
Haynes said in e-mail that he regrets that Wright has been "demonized and politically misused," because he has affirmed black heritage.

"Dr. Wright is not a black racist. He is loving, courageous prophet," he said.