Obama’s Other Problematic Pastor

Rev. Jeremiah Wright wasn't the first questionable source of inspiration for Barack Obama. Meet Rev. James Meeks.

April 1, 2008 - by Karol Sheinin

“I was drawn to the power of the African American religious tradition to spur social change. Out of necessity, the black church had to minister to the whole person. Out of necessity, the black church rarely had the luxury of separating individual salvation from collective salvation. It had to serve as the center of the community’s political, economic, and social as well as spiritual life; it understood in an intimate way the biblical call to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and challenge powers and principalities. In the history of these struggles, I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death; rather, it was an active, palpable agent in the world.”
– Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope

When Obama made his fawned over but wholly forgettable speech on race, he said that he could not disown his incendiary pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright any more than he could disown the black community or his own supposedly racist white grandmother. Much has been made of these comparisons, in particular of his contrasting Rev. Wright, a man who believes the U.S. government purposely spread AIDS in the black community to a grandmother who raised him and who once mentioned her fear of a particular black man who was harassing her on a bus.

We don’t choose our relatives, goes the criticism, but Obama chose Wright to be his spiritual leader.

It seems, though, that this isn’t the first time that Obama has chosen to get his spiritual direction from a questionable source.

Reverend James T. Meeks is a Democratic member of the Illinois State Senate, and presides over The Salem Baptist Church of Chicago. The church describes itself on its website as “a beacon of peace and hope for countless thousands in Chicago’s Roseland community.” They claim membership of over 22,000. Reverend Meeks is also a pledged delegate to, and a personal friend of, Barack Obama, campaigning for him in his 2004 U.S. Senate run as well as being a vocal supporter of his presidential campaign. They’re so close, in fact, that after Obama secured the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator, Obama stopped by Meeks’ church for “Wednesday-night Bible study”. Meeks recalls he was a priority for Obama: “The night after the election, he was the hottest thing going from Galesburg to Rockford. He did all the TV shows, and all the morning news, but his last stop at night was for church. He came by to say thank you, and he came by for prayer.”

Obama himself has described Meeks as an adviser whom he seeks out for spiritual counsel. What are some of Meeks’s spiritual lessons? One of his fiery sermons included this rant: “We don’t have slave masters, we got mayors. But they are still the same white people who are presiding over systems where black people are not able to be educated. You got some preachers that are house n——. You got some elected officials that are house n——. Rather than them try and break this up, they’re gonna fight you to protect that white man.” He also believes that homosexuality is something than can be spread, and that it’s Jews doing the spreading. He has accused “Hollywood Jews” of bringing us Brokeback Mountain. He has referred to homosexuality as “an evil sickness” and hosts a Halloween “Fright Night” to scare people away from being gay.

The racist, angry, conspiracy-laden language used by Meeks is reminiscent of Pastor Wright’s. Why does Obama seek out such problematic men to be his spiritual advisors?

The answer can only go two ways.

Either Obama agrees with Meeks, and with Wright, or he is bound to them by political expediency. Both are influential in the world of Chicago politics, both provided an inroad to the black community which Barack Obama lacked. For a candidate of hope and change who tries to portray himself as above these sorts of political calculations, it becomes apparent that he’s a political opportunist of the highest order.

The problem for Obama, or more accurately the problem for us all if Obama is elected president, is that these kinds of misjudgments to the character of his spiritual advisors is likely to spill over into other areas of his leadership. Sure, all politicians may owe some debts to unsavory characters but rarely does a politician rise to the kind of prominence Obama has achieved while holding near and dear the type of men Obama follows. These men aren’t political consultants who misspoke. Reverend Meeks is not a random supporter who happens to espouse controversial views. He is a leader in the Democratic party, and in Obama’s home state. He is a man people turn to for guidance. Voters need to ask themselves whether they are comfortable with their potential president choosing to receive direction from such a man.

Obama said in his speech on race that “I have asserted a firm conviction – a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people – that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.” The men Obama has selected for his spiritual guidance will never let us move beyond those old wounds, in fact it is they who keep opening those gashes for their own political purposes. It is a sign of poor judgment that they are the same men Obama turns to for his spiritual direction.

Karol Sheinin lives in NYC and blogs at alarmingnews.com.

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37 Comments

1. Spinoneone:

While this may well be poor judgment, I lean more to the side of it being political expediency. Why? Well, we have a young man arrive in Chicago to begin a career as a lawyer for a prominent law firm. This black man was educated at the finest schools in Hawaii and the North East. He has decided to aspire to political office, and he has absolutely no “street cred” in the greater Chicago area. How to acquire same becomes his most pressing issue. The obvious answer is to join one or more popular churches and become well known there. Back slapping, hand shaking, some community work, and spreading a bit of grease gets the job done. Voila! Barry Obama is recreated as Barrack the political whiz.

Apr 1, 2008 - 3:40 am 2. Sethwk:

Whether it be agreement with their beliefs or political expediency it still doesn’t make it okay. We all know that if a Republican had a 20+ year relationship with Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson that the media and the Democrats would demand the Repub denounce both of them for the rather mild things they have said in comparison to Wright’s and Meek’s rants…

Apr 1, 2008 - 5:11 am 3. Viola:

I am an exchange student from Germany and pretty much experience all this election stuff for the first time right now. It stuns me how many “irrelevant” factors play a role.
In my opinion, an election should not be about how much money one candidate has. In addition, noone should be interested in what the candidate’s pastor says. I mean… why don’t you go and see what kind of teachers Obama had? Maybe one of them also said something controversial. However, even if those pastors were or are Obama’s mental adviser, that does not mean that Obama agrees with everything they think or express.
Please begin focusing on the for this country important facts of this election and stop trying to pull scandals out of the candidates’ lives.

Apr 1, 2008 - 5:46 am 4. David Thomson:

“In addition, noone should be interested in what the candidate’s pastor says.”

I don’t think you would say that if a white politician attended a radical right-wing church pastored by a cleric who regularly slimed people of color. In the back of your mind, we are supposed to cut slack for “victims of oppression.”

Apr 1, 2008 - 6:28 am 5. Nicolo M.:

Do we know to the degree to which the candidates… more likely their minions… make sure their views “are represented” in the comments sections of important blogs and websites?

Apr 1, 2008 - 7:02 am 6. Tom Grant:

Meeks comments about the Mayor and council of Chicago leave something out, they are all members of the democratic party. He calls these liberals racist which is unfortunate. But how else can he criticize liberal policies which have been disasterous for blacks? He is allowed by PC reasons to accuse white people of being racist, but is not allowed to condemn liberal policies that don’t work.

He should be condemning their policies instead, but if he did that, he’d be accused of being a conservative and then rapidly marginalized.

Apr 1, 2008 - 7:23 am 7. Mortimer:

I used to work for a church relgious supplier years ago when I got out of school. He had plenty of accounts, mainly COD only, for black churches in the North End of Hartford, CT. I can tell you, most of them were more rackets and social clubs than Churches. Most of these men of the cloth, I use the term loosely, seemed to be in it for some sort of personal gain and were masters at milking the local political machine and cashing in for themselves.
AS far as disastorous liberal policies goes, these were watered down versions of policies that the Black power people demanded of us honkies in the 60’s and 70’s. Do cons think that if it wasn;t for some sort of vague liberal elite, the blacks would all turn into Walter Williams or Thomas Sowell. Does the NAACP support gun control and affirmative action?

Apr 1, 2008 - 8:37 am 8. Barbara:

I do believe that the Obamas agree with the rhetoric of both Wright and meeks, period.

There is absolutely no way one could attend a church for 20 years plus write his affiliation with such delight to Wright in his book, without it not being a true and valued relationship between them.

Apr 1, 2008 - 9:20 am 9. Christopher:

For three generations the Democrat Party has built itself upon a racial/sex spoils system, hostile to the interests and institutions of white men. Even the white males within the structure are embarrrassed by the term “white man.” It is strange that even they cannot bring themselves to
realize that Obama is not only half a trashy black man, but half a trashy white man.

Apr 1, 2008 - 9:46 am 10. lBernardo:

Even with all of this baggage, as bad as it is, Obama may still be the best choice of the remaining three candidates. All three are vehemently anti-capitalist global-warming believers, with the likely result of any one of them taking the White House being a serious economic slowdown. Furthermore, McCain has made it clear that he will put us on a program of “national sacrifice,” including a resumption of the military draft, and he does not accept freedom of speech as a right (having said so in defense of the oppressive McCain-Feingold Act that he co-authored).

I’m thinking that it might be better to go with the inexperienced guy who lacks the connections to get much done.

Apr 1, 2008 - 10:05 am 11. Aaron:

Thank you for the article. I will certainly not vote for either pastor should he decide to run for president.

Apr 1, 2008 - 10:59 am 12. Obama’s Other Problematic Pastor « Tizona’s Weblog:

[...] Pajamas Media [...]

Apr 1, 2008 - 11:45 am 13. always right:

Why shouldn’t I be interested in how much money a candidate has, and how he/she obtained it in the first place? Or who/what type contributed or endorsed to his/her campaign?

Given that Obama’s 20 years of public service consisted mostly voting “present”, do I base my judgment on his campaign stump speeches alone while he’s beggin for my vote now? Furthermore, I am MOST interested in knowing who the real puppetmaster is behind the curtain.

Apr 1, 2008 - 12:21 pm 14. Believer:

Politics and religion are the playgrounds of the charlatan. Buyer beware.

Apr 1, 2008 - 1:11 pm 15. Lisa:

Hey Viola from Germany,

The company one keeps is very important. It says a lot about that person. Since we know absolutely nothing else about Obama, his relationship of 20 years with a racist church is not “irrelevant”.

Since you aren’t an American and have no say in the matter- worry about your own country. I frankly don’t care what Germans or Europeans think. Just call me an evil conservative.

Apr 1, 2008 - 1:12 pm 16. Catalonia:

“Thank you for the article. I will certainly not vote for either pastor should he decide to run for president.”

Thank you for the comment. I will certainly decide for myself whether Obama’s close, intimate relationship with a racist pastor in a racist church touting a racist ideology and with a racist congregation disqualifies him for the presidency. Your excuses and equivocation matter not one whit.

But tell you what, why don’t you just go on telling yourself that it doesn’t matter to the majority of 200 million white folks that Obama attends a “hate whitey” extremist church. You go right on ahead and do that. In fact, I’d just ignore the whole episode, because every politician knows that ignoring 2/3rds of the voting population is a real winning strategy. Yup.

Apr 1, 2008 - 1:14 pm 17. Fat Jolly Penguin:

Eek — it just gets worse and worse. But you know Obama’s supporters will be spinning this like dervishes. I wonder how many times he actually went to THIS church?

It’s like I keep saying: if Obama really wants all of this to go away, he needs to be completely honest and tell us with which parts of Wright’s and Meeks’s ideologies he disagrees. I’m becoming more and more convinced by the day that the reason he won’t be honest about any of this is that he actually agrees with this vitriol. Yeah, that’s the kind of person I want running my country and, indeed, the free world. Now, excuse me while I go look for some Pepto-Bismol.

Apr 1, 2008 - 2:03 pm 18. Ed Wallis:

FOR VIOLA (exchange student from Germany):

liebe Viola! Was Du unbedingt hierzulande verstehen mußt, ist daß (wie Lisa schreibt) Barack Obama 20 Jahre im Gesellschaft “unter” diesem Typ verbracht hat…und freiwillig als “protegee” Herrn Wright als “mentor” ausgewählt hat. Und zwar, Obama hat seine Kinder zu den razistisische und anti-Amerikanistische Prädikte von Wright gebracht – Jahr nach Jahr! Es ist nicht nur “Schuld durch Assozieerung” – d.h. eine leichte Beziehung – Obama hat Wright über jede “wichtige” (Obamas Beschreibung!) politische Entscheidung darüber besprochen (und mehr).

Obama ist (leider) ein Betrüger. (Schade: Vielleicht irgendwann in der Zukunft bekommt Amerika einen legitimen anders-außer-weißen-oder-männlichen Kandidat, für den man wählen kann. ABER Obama ist es allerdings NICHT.

Apr 1, 2008 - 2:23 pm 19. Senior:

No one comes out of Cook County clean. No one.

Remember that.

Apr 1, 2008 - 3:45 pm 20. TSA officer:

I find it all very sad that in this day and age the American public still tries to find every excuse possible to avoid electing a person of color as president. May I remind the readers that the only reason that we are having these discussions about Mr. Obama is because of a racist law that has yet to be repealed in this country. A law that states if a person has one drop of African American blood in them then they are automatically black. This is not the case for any other race but African Americans. This is a law that was enacted in the nineteenth century to protect white slave owners who were frequently known to foster illegitimate children with their slaves; i.e. Thomas Jefferson. It seems the question that we should be asking is; why is it that a message preached by Mr. Obamas former pastor SEVEN years ago all of the sudden an important issue. Surely if it is that important someone should have brought this up at the beginning of his candidacy. Why is it that all of a sudden when Mrs. Clinton is worried about losing the nomination that this seven year old sermon resurfaces? The sermon has been available for public purchase for seven years. Maybe it is because she never thought that this “black” candidate would give her a run for her money.

Apr 1, 2008 - 4:52 pm 21. Elizabeth:

Should Obama reject and denounce Frederick Douglas too?

“What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mock; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy – a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.

Go search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival”

Frederick Douglass – July 4, 1852

Apr 1, 2008 - 6:45 pm 22. Walter:

Hey, Germany. No lectures on electing leaders, ok?

Apr 1, 2008 - 6:49 pm 23. Frogman:

TSA Officer. You aren’t really, are you? I’ll never fly again.

Elizabeth, If Frederick Douglass held views as quoted, he was a fool.

Apr 1, 2008 - 9:22 pm 24. jw:

(1) What Frederick Douglass said was what many abolititionists said, and it was what many Americans thought, since the Civil War was fought to abolish slavery, which it did. Note that the Republican Party was founded as the anti-slavery party. Douglass did not denounce any race, but the institution of slavery. (He was right in saying that the United States was hypocritical to celebrate liberty and also allow slavery (in certain states); of course, there was slavery – and still is – in other parts of the world.)
Note that Wright, Meeks, and Obama are out-of-date. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, and slavery itself abolished with the amendments to the Constitution in 1865.
But what does what Douglass said have to do with Obama’s allegiance to anti-American racists? Obama has probably not read Douglass or Booker T. Washington, and he does not know the Gettysburg Address.
(2) The definition of “colored” varied from state to state, in those states which had laws for racial discrimination. Thomas Jefferson was not the father of any of Sally Hemings’ children. The Jefferson DNA found in some of her male descendants could have come from any male Jefferson, his nephews or his brother. A study of this was made by historians who concluded that the father of the Jefferson sons by Sally Hemings was probably Thomas Jefferson’s father.

Apr 1, 2008 - 10:12 pm 25. bob marley:

Hey Elizabeth,

Has Obama been attending Douglass’ church for twenty years? Did he invite Douglass into his family? Is Douglass his spiritual advisor of twenty years? If he is/did, then I’d say Obama shares the views of Douglass.

Not gonna be my candidate for prez.

Apr 1, 2008 - 10:28 pm 26. Morton Doodslag:

The implied comparison of Wright’s insane rantings in the 21st century, and comments by Frederick Douglass nearly 160 years ago is extremely offensive as well as absurd.

Not only was the Civil War fought in the intervenig years, but over 400,000 Americans died in the process to rectify our nations wrongs. The dead were also predominantly whites fighting to abolish slavery of blacks.

But the nasty comparison reveals something basic about the mentality of the victim obsessed votaries such as the radical blacks in Wright’s church, and increasingly many of the Democrats. These anti-Americans desperately adhere to their historic narratives, even when they contain grotesque distrortions. They focus solely on the crimes of our nation, and weave themselves into the role of perpetual victims in order to lend solidity to their flimsy and self pitying constructs. These hypocrites never give credit for the huge strides America has made (and continues to make despite their abuse) to create our “more perfect Union”. They aren’t on the team, but will gladly whip up hstred, deliver the shake-down, and hold their greedy hands out for all manner of concessions. Are they ever grateful? No. Instead we get bitter contempt for the nation that has done so much. We get Obama’s wife saying “for the first time in my adult life I’m proud of my country” despite the incredible advantages handed to her over her entire life.

These are people who have imbibed deeply the poison of hatred.

The comment above fits into the same pattern as several made by Wright, Barack and Michelle Obama. It places in stark relief ow important holding onto grievances has become for these bitter disloyal souls. They have invested so much into their self absorbed fantastic delusions, that to posters such as Elizabeth, or the lunatic “reverend” Wright, or opportunist huckstsrs liks Obama, there is no contradiction in thsir preposterous comparisons;
Douglass speaking prior to the Civil War when slavery still flourished is equvalent to Wright spewing hatred of whites and America 160 years later; Obama’s equates a single comment by his Grandmother with his hideous “spiritual” advisor’s venom. To these poisoned minds, there is no contradiction.

Apr 1, 2008 - 11:14 pm 27. tillamook:

If Mr. Obama likes these pastors, perhaps as president he will like Hugo Chavez, Kim Jong-il, and any president of Iran. He must have learned his taste for friends from Jimmy Carter.

Apr 2, 2008 - 7:56 am 28. redhawk:

I Hope for the Change of the time that our Barry HO is actually going to show his TRUE Colors and Those of Michelle also.. Right Now he’s showing a great propensity for thick FOGGY speeches full of empty rethoric but NO SUBSTANCE and too many untruths…EMPTY ORATORY Means NOTHING!
His policies of SOCIALISM ARE SCARY.. HIS INEPT ACTIONS IN THE US SENATE ARE WELL… empty… HIS ” I WAS AGAINST THE WAR” IS PURE bULL crap.. hE WAS not IN THE US SeNATE IN 2001.. and the ILLINOIS Senate position has ZERO say so on Iraq.. and so on.. and then there is WRIGHT….

Apr 2, 2008 - 1:59 pm 29. Aaron:

Catalonia, you should take a look at a recent Fox News poll (http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/032008_release_web.pdf). 72% of Americans have heard of Wright’s comments. 24% believe that Obama shares Wright’s views, and 57% do not. So Fox News is telling you that it doesn’t matter to a majority of Americans. I do, however, respect your right to believe what you want and to be overly dramatic on occasion. But do some research before you start spouting numbers.

Apr 3, 2008 - 9:57 am 30. Catalonia:

Aaron,

Tell me, do you always use media polls to inform your positions on issues? You know, those famously rigorous, structured polls designed by talented, top-of-the-class statisticians applying accurate (ahem!) sampling methodologies? If you do, I have some exit polls from the 2004 election to sell you.

The broader point holds: Obama’s intimate association with a racist pastor spouting a racist ideology matters. Your link didn’t work, so I couldn’t access the poll to find out when it was presented, but this issue isn’t over. What the poll didn’t capture is that most people have heard of Wright but they haven’t actually seen him in action, or heard audio of his sermons, except in mostly truncated soundbites. You can bet the GOP (and McCain supporters in the general population) are going to remind everybody at every opportunity, when possible, and appropriately so.

Why don’t you find a poll that reflects the views of whites specifically, and how they feel about Wright-Obama when they’ve SEEN Wright’s speeches, not just heard about them. Better yet, why don’t you construct a poll of people who have been read a summary of Black Liberation Theology, then play a Wright sermon, then tell them how close Obama is to Wright, then ask them how they feel aobut Obama, because in essence that exact scenario, in one form or another, will play out for many people before the general election.

So like I said, you go on convincing yourself that it doesn’t matter. That’s exactly what I want you to do.

By the way, since you claim this issue is not an issue, why has Obama tried to distance himself from Wright? According to you there’s no there there, and yet the candidate himself tends to disagree.

What are you going to believe, a poorly designed ’snapshot’ media poll, or a candidate whose behavior reflects his access to properly designed internal polling which professional campaigns use to inform their strategies?

(Speaking of research, whites make up 67% of the population, but 75% of registered voters, and 80+% of people who actually vote. Just a 1% shift in that group from Obama to McCain is massive, and more than makes up for a +10% shift in black votes for Obama. If the shift is 1.5-2% amongst whites the election is over. In case you hadn’t noticed, the dynamics of a general election are radically different from that of a primary. Candidates with “hate whitey” connections cannot win in the general, which is why the Democrat MSM tried so mightily to bury the Wright story.)

Apr 3, 2008 - 10:59 am 31. Chris R.:

These rouge pastors are just more examples of lying by Obama and crew. Obama says he wants to heal our county’s racial wounds, but that’s quite impossible when his cronies are demonizing white folks and Jewish folks, and spreading lies about AIDS, crack, and a multitude of other subjects.

I always found it to be very convenient that these rouge pastors claim the USA made AIDS just to get rid of black folks. They never mention the proven scientific fact that AIDS came from Africa, the land of their own ancestry. It makes sense – religious extremists of any kind often deny or ignore facts with the express purpose of exerting control over their flocks through fear and misinformation.

Perhaps those pastors can offer solace to Obama when he loses.

Apr 6, 2008 - 2:46 pm 32. Mean Gene:

If we’re going to have an honest discussion about the religious figures our Presidential candidates favor, shouldn’t John McCain’s relationship with John Hagee be examined in similar detail? Hagee blames Jews for the Holocaust, says Hurricane Katrina was divine retribution for New Orleans’ wicked ways, and has called Catholicism a “Godless theology of hate”. McCain said he was pleased to get Hagee’s endorsement. McCain gets a pass for this…why exactly?

Apr 7, 2008 - 7:03 am 33. TSA officer:

Well Gene,I’m glad you asked. Could it be because Mr. Hagee is -white? Now I’m not saying that Mr. McCain or Mr. Hagee are racist. I don’t believe that they are. I also don’t believe that Mr. Obama is a racist. Unfortunately many posters are still not acknowledging the fact that Mr. Obama is half white, and was raised by white women. Obama’s Kenyan father was not in his life. Whatever views that Mr. Obama may have about race were taught to him by his white mother and grandmother. So for anyone to say that Obama hates white people is to imply that he not only hates his mother and grandmother, but that he also hates himself. This is not the impression that I get from Mr. Obama. Now for the people that might say that Obama is racist because of Rev. Wright’s comments; you cannot judge a person based on the words of another. I wonder how many of our outraged posters or their friends have ever said something about a minority that would be considered racist in the privacy of their car, home or social club. Now think about it; using the same logic that says that Obama is racist because of Rev. Wright’s comments, that would make most of white America racist. Now if that is the way you think, you give affirmation to Rev. Wright’s comments. Thankfully, I don’t see things that way. I believe that an individual should be judged based on their own actions and not those of another. Now concerning Obama’s connection to senator James Meeks; James Meeks is the pastor of one of the largest churches in the Chicago land area with 22,000 members, at least half of whom are voting age. It was only politically expediency that caused Mr. Obama to visit the church to thank his constituents. Also it is interesting to note that James Meeks is a good friend of the Rev. Michael Phledger a man who shares the same ideology as Meeks, but happens to be white. Mr. Obama has also appeared at Phledger’s church, but for some reason no one has bothered to show outrage over that. Maybe because it doesn’t fit into the whole black power conspiracy theory that many have begun to circulate.

Apr 8, 2008 - 8:23 am 34. Confessions of a Political Junkie » The Obama Spiritual Advisors: Preachers of Hate:

[...] what of Reverend Meeks? He’s got his own problems. From one of his sermons: “We don’t have slave masters, we got mayors. But they are still the [...]

Jun 2, 2008 - 9:06 am 35. Perspective Police:

Mean Gene and TSA Officer,
The relationship between Hagee and McCain is in no way comparable to the relationship between Obama and Wright. Sure, Hagee endorsed McCain, but McCain hardly knows Hagee. All prominent politicians get a lot of endorsements from all kinds of people. No big deal. But the Obama-Wright relationship goes the other way. Obama strongly endorsed Wright. He belonged to his church for 20 years, attended church “every Sunday”, gave Wright tens of thousands of dollars, and says he had a close relationship with him. He only threw him under the bus after the political heat was getting turned up.

Then, he threw the entire church under the bus when the words of another racist hate-mongering buddy hit the MSM. A couple years ago, it was a different story: “Father Michael Pfleger is a dear friend, and somebody I interact with closely,” said Obama in a 2004 interview.

Jun 2, 2008 - 9:58 pm 36. Surprised Reader:

I haven’t decided who to vote for. I usually vote right after left headed to far left for me. I think Obama and McCain both think the same in areas I believe should lean more right,areas that are more important to me overall. In weighting out Obama, the Wright thing was shocking, but had a small effect on me for some time, Obama just seemed so diff from what Wright was spewing. Then, I did some reading and plan to even read a Cone book when the library gets it in for me. I’m telling you, if you read about the Black Liberation Theology YOU WILL think diff about Obama and be concerned, as I’ve been somewhat from the begining, not knowing him. I read that there is controversy out there that Mrs Obama refered to whites as WHITEY in the pulpit of their church. I believe she is tied very closely to the BLT thinking. Also,I read that Obama did all his schooling elsewhere and then made a diliberate effort to connect with Chicago politics, which by the way, if you read the BLT jazz you’ll realize that POLITICS ARE THE CHURCH beliefs, they are connected, as they say that blacks don’t have the social and politcal power, they are oppressed.Forget that they are NOT suppose be recieve the same tax excemptions for combining Politics and Church as other churches recieve. If someone were doing what they are suppose to THIS hate group would not be allowed such a status which has allowed it to flurish on and on. I was appalled by what I’ve read about their beliefs. God is black (no big deal) but they only except a God who is interested in destroying the white oppressors (which means us all, if you read it, we are all guilty regardless of our beliefs towards them). It’s bitter and hateful and as I’ve read another black blogger say, it’s harmed the blacks struggling. I think so too, it’s help that comes if you follow the hate beliefs. I can’t believe Obama walked away with none of that. I have not made up my mind yet, both candidates don’t thrill me. Maybe I’ll go with the first one who says they will drill in our country for oil. It’s the only thing good that could come from this election.

Jun 11, 2008 - 5:41 am 37. Pastor Dwayne Mitch Sponsel:

Pastor Dwayne Mitch Sponsel of the Christ Evangelical Ministry in London says he needs a bunch of money for the medical treatment of a fellow pastor who was burned in a church fire which was set by Islamic fundamentalists. I’ll have Reverend Stu Pidass take this one.

Conventions within the thread:

E-mails from the fraudsters are in black.
E-mails from me (Stu Pidass) are in italicized green.
Red X’s represent characters that have been changed to protect personal info.
Comments from me are in bold black.

The game commences with the scammer’s initial e-mail.
Dear Brethren in Christ
I am pastor Dwayne Mitch Sponsel of the CHRIST EVANGELICAL MINISTRY in London. I’m writing this letter to you all with tear and pain all over my eyes, because it is barely one month now i return from a crusade in Nigeria west Africa , it was my first visit to that part of the world. It was a great miracle crusade and many gave their life’s to Christ to the glory of God, indeed it was a miraculous crusade many healing s from various kinds of diseases and chronic ailment, i have not seen miracle like this in my entire life, I must say god love our brethren in Africa.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ it hurt me so much to see that the church which i was invited as a guest preacher as be burnt off by some Islamic fundamentalist due to the recent prophet Mohammad cartoon drawing in Denmark and also some members lost their life’s and the pastor was seriously burnt and it need a medical surgery urgently and the doctors report say that it will cost $110,200 and also the cost of rebuilding the church will cost $55,000.
Please brethren in Christ, i ‘m appealing to you all on behalf of the church and pastor Gabriel to come to their aid to enable him undergo a plastic surgery and to see that the church is rebuild again. Dear brethren in Christ, i want you to know that as we Christians we are going through a difficult time in our life, even some of us has lost their life in this process. i want you to know that our father in heaven have not forsaken us, he love us and he want us to be united as one and render assistance to one another in times of need, so brethren in Christ, let us give as much as little we can so that the world will know that we christian are united.
I want you all to give this as a seed offering unto God and the almighty father will bless you all openly and abundantly in Jesus name “Amen”. Please note that i do not received donation here in London, all donation are to be sent to the assistance pastor of the church in Nigeria through western union money transfer or money gram. Please all reply to my yahoo mail box.Thanks

MY BEST REGARDS.GODSWILL JAMES
PASTOR MITCH SPonsel:
CHRIST EVANGELICAL MINISTRY
213,BALHAM HIGH ROAD,
SW177BQ, LONDON.

Nov 14, 2009 - 9:30 am

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