I have been warned about this and have turned this over and over again in my mind, but I am casting caution to the wind. Here goes…. I am endorsing Barack Obama - - - as my candidate for church member of the year! Is there some other position he is seeking??

Last week a firestorm broke out over some of the sermons the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, retired pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, Barack Obama’s church, preached. In the sermon snippets in question, Wright is harshly critical of the United States, and in the fiery oratorical style of the African-American church he preached with passion about this, utilizing rather colorful language on occasion. Like Senator Obama, I disagree strongly with some of the statements made. Like Senator Obama, I believe such statements need to be put in the context of the entire ministry of Rev. Wright at Trinity UCC, and in the context of his experience as an African American in the United States. To do so does not excuse the excess in the rhetoric, nor temper my disagreement with what he says in the now infamous sermon clips.

Senator Obama’s speech, addressing this issue, and addressing larger issues of race in American society, is worth reading in its entirety (it can be found in many places on the web – I found it on politico.com). Whether you support the Senator in his race for the presidency or not, I commend his speech to you. I believe his speech will be considered one of the finer pieces of political speech-making in our history. That alone does not qualify Senator Obama for president. Don’t mistake my admiration for his speech for an endorsement. On that score I intend to remain neutral.

In the midst of discussing race in America and his relationship with Reverend Wright, Obama makes the following statement. Did I know [Reverend Wright] to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

It is that last sentence that earns Obama my endorsement for church member of the year. What a novel idea, disagree with your pastor yet stick around as a member of the church. Not long ago I met a person who told me he used to attend the church where I am the pastor, that is, until one of my predecessors said that Christians should not be surprised if they see Muslims in heaven. That was too much for him and he left to find some place else to worship. Awhile back I preached a sermon in which I made the following statement: These days I sometimes wonder if we are not making an idol of national security, sacrificing at its altar values that we have long held important for our life as a county, values that are important to Christian faith. What are we willing to sacrifice for security? I am not denigrating concern for national security, only questioning the effects an exclusive concern for it may be having on us. The United States has kept people in prison for years, now, without charges and without trials. We have people debating whether or not simulated drowning is an appropriate interrogation technique. Are we becoming ruthless and heartless? I meant these questions as genuine questions as I tried to explore how we might understand some of the New Testament language around the spiritual forces of wickedness and the evil powers of this world (terms that also come from traditional baptismal liturgies). Later that week I received an e-mail from a person who was in the military telling me that he and his children and girlfriend had visited a couple of times, but after hearing me question “waterboarding,” an interrogation technique he believed to be effective and essential in our war on terrorism, they would not be coming back. He did not think it had anything to do with Jesus and God’s love. I replied by thanking him for his service to our country, but asking him to consider whether “effectiveness” is the only criterion in to be used in thinking about warfare and national security. I used the example of threatening to kill a person’s family as a potentially effective technique for gathering information from somebody. It may be effective, but is it moral, and if there are moral limits to defense of our national security, shouldn’t we be discussing these and don’t our moral standards have something to do with Jesus, with God’s love and with our Christian faith? I have not seen this man since and I wish him nothing but the best. But apparently disagreeing with his pastor on some delicate issues was not a choice he wanted to make in this instance.

About the time of Senator Obama’s speech, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released the first set of findings from its massive survey of religion in the United States. Among the statistics noted – 44% of those surveyed indicated that they had moved from the religious tradition they were born into to another. How many of these people left because they disagreed with the pastor, priest or rabbi about something? I don’t know, but my guess is that it is one factor among others.

I believe clergy/religious leaders have a responsibility to address difficult subjects intelligently and sensitively and avoid inflammatory rhetoric as much as possible. I take that responsibility seriously. I also believe that there are times when one’s principles may lead one to move from one community of faith to another, when one’s disagreements with a pastor or priest or rabbi and with that community become a significant stumbling block to one’s spiritual growth and development. However, in our day and time, when so many choices are subsumed under the paradigm of making choices in the consumer market, so that searching for a community of faith becomes “church shopping” and moving from one community of faith to another becomes akin to buying a different automobile, one’s spiritual growth and development may be significantly enhanced by engaging with others amidst differences – by being able to say, with a Barack Obama – “just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed,” and being able to say of your pastor, priest, or rabbi as Senator Obama said of Rev. Wright – “as imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me.”

Feel free to disagree!

With Faith and With Feathers,

David