Religion has not, or not yet, become an important ingredient of the nastiness in the current presidential campaign. It has been quiet around Mitt Romney’s Mormonism, possibly because he has spouted language that might make Southern Baptists feel comfortable (though it surely makes some other people uncomfortable). Michele Bachmann’s affiliation with the Lutheran Wisconsin Synod (which teaches that the Pope is the Anti-Christ) has faded from public attention along with her short-lived candidacy. Until just now Barack Obama’s unfortunate relationship with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, which has been a sharp issue in the 2008 campaign, also seemed to be dormant. Not so any longer: It was widely reported that a pro-Romney super-pac has a plan to use the issue to attack Obama. Romney quickly distanced himself from such a plan, but others on his side have been less fastidious. It is anyone’s guess whether this revived issue will have legs. In the meantime, some observations about Jeremiah Wright’s worldview and its ideological context may be useful.
A reminder of the 2008 episode: Wright was the pastor of Trinity United Church in Chicago, which was the religious home of Obama and his family for many years. Some excerpts from Wright’s sermons were widely quoted in the press, some shown on television (including one in which he said that God should not bless, but damn America). Particularly offensive were statements to the effect that 9/11 meant that “America’s chickens were coming home to roost” and that HIV was caused by the US government. I cannot assess to what extent these quotations were taken out of context; I rather doubt it, since in many other sermons Wright was fiercely critical of American domestic and foreign policies. Obama said that, though aware that some of Wright’s sermons were “controversial”, he had not heard the ones that were broadcast all over the media (quite possibly true – I don’t know how often Obama went to church, and he would not be the first parishioner whose mind is elsewhere during a sermon). In any case, he sharply repudiated Wright’s reported views, resigned from the Chicago church, and gave an eloquent speech affirming his commitment to a multiracial America.
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