Obama's Pastor takes on Sean Hannity
First they tried to smear Barack Obama by accusing him to be some kind of covert Islamic terrorist, now they call him a reverse racist pushing black supremacy -- or something like it. So, Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, a predominantly African American congregation, came on Hannity and Colmes. Dr. Wright tried to explain to Mr. Hannity the foundations of Trinity's statements on black community life and church life, but Hannity refused to let him speak. So, while Wright tried to talk about Black Liberation theology, and ask Hannity if he'd read James Cone, Hannity continued to rudely talk over Wright and refuse to answer his questions. Colmes tried to help, but he's so docile it doesn't work. But I think Jeremiah Wright got the upper hand! So, watch the encounter and thanks to Faithful Progressive for the heads up:
Comments
Alan Colmes kept trying to make it sound innocuous, which liberation theology most certainly isn't -- it's challenging to the status quo Sean Hannity wants to perpetuate, which suggests they're hearing the Gospel pretty well. :-) But I think Dr Wright could have been more direct. He was on the right track when he was pointing out that "white" is an unspoken default in Western Christianity and should have run with that a bit further rather than asking Hannity if he'd read James Cone over and over.
I think you're right and I'm sure that the Fox audience has no clue about James Cone, Dwight Hopkins, or any form of liberationist theology. But are they willing to hear that the gospel is a counterpoint to the status quo. No, I doubt they do.
Of course, Sean wasn't going to let him speak anyway.
Thanks for the post!
These media types can be handled to a certain extent -- I've seen people get their point across despite the host -- but it really seems to be a hard-won skill. The whole thing makes me sad about the level of religious discourse in the US, though.
(I've added you to my aggregator, BTW. I'm a friend of Dwight's from Religious Liberal Blog, I was his predecessor as director of the UCC/DoC campus ministry at SIU.)
I agree that Jeremiah Wright could have handled Hannity better. The problem today is as you point out the level of theological discourse today is quite low. Part of the problem is that the most visible preachers -- Joel Osteen, etc. -- aren't theologically trained. Liberation theologies aren't well known and we've fallen back into a kind of melting pot Christianity where everyone looks the same -- white evangelical.
What Obama does is force us to reconsider our theological foundations. Perhaps next time that Jeremiah Wright comes on he'll explain Cone's theology without referring to him. Not that Sean would understand that since to him Jesus would appear to be a blue-eyed blond.
It's interesting how two groups of people seeing the exact same interview view it through a totally different lens.
I think there is that bigger issue in American life. We want to see ourselves as a place of welcome, but there is an assimilationist idea that one must act white to be truly American. To try to say, hey, to be American means to be different, isn't always received well.
It is one of the issues that Obama faces -- there are expectations and stereotypes that color the conversation!
So, let's hear some more liberation theology!