Article Published May 3, 2008 by The New York Times
By NEELA BANERJEE
Just as Senator Barack Obama has spent this week trying to stem the damage to his campaign from statements by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., the small, theologically liberal Protestant denomination both men belong to, the United Church of Christ, has been grappling with the impact of the controversy upon its members.
On Thursday, the Rev. John H. Thomas, the denomination’s president, posted an open letter on the United Church of Christ’s Web site acknowledging that members have been dealing with “the same broad set of emotions and frustrations that have been expressed nationwide in recent days and weeks.”
Mr. Thomas said he had heard concern from members about the well-being of the church and its congregations.
“While there is high regard for Reverend Wright’s ministry and leadership at Trinity U.C.C. in Chicago during the past 36 years, and for his prophetic, scriptural preaching,” Mr. Thomas wrote, “many of us today are troubled by some of his controversial comments and the substance and manner in which they have been communicated, both by him and as characterized by the media.”
The letter responds, in part, to e-mail and calls to the denomination’s main office in Cleveland about Mr. Wright’s comments, a flow that has picked up since his talk at the National Press Club on Monday, said the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, a spokesman for the denomination.
Other United Church of Christ ministers said Mr. Thomas, who is in South America, had no choice but to issue a statement, given how the continuing controversy has thrust the denomination of 1.4 million members into the spotlight.
“His statement indicates there is a high level of anxiety,” said the Rev. Madison Shockley, pastor of Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad, Calif., “and it’s important for the body of the church to know that the leadership hears them.”
In comments on the United Church of Christ’s Web site, people have called for the expulsion from the denomination of Mr. Wright and the church he led until he retired in February, a move that experts said was highly unlikely. More often, visitors to the site have debated whether Mr. Wright’s comments were laudable or lamentable.
“The U.C.C. has got to come out against Wright. This is embarrassing. Even Obama is denouncing him,” Matthew Thompson, who said he had a master’s degree in theology, wrote on the Web site. “It is clear that Wright is soap-boxing for his own promotion and is making a joke of progressive Christianity.”
The United Church of Christ, made up in part of churches descended from the Puritan congregations, takes pride in its liberalism, and it has been among the first Protestant denominations to ordain women and gay men and has been a leader on civil rights issues. The denomination is overwhelmingly white, although Mr. Wright’s former church, Trinity United Church of Christ, which is mostly African-American, is its largest congregation.
The denomination emphasizes “the freedom of the congregation and the freedom of the pulpit,” said the Rev. Randi Walker, a United Church of Christ minister and an assistant professor at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif.
Ministers said they heard in Mr. Wright’s language “the same kind of passion and hyperbole as the Hebrew prophets,” said the Rev. Richard Wagoner of Union Congregational Church, a United Church of Christ church in St. Louis Park, Minn. Clergy members have cited the prophet Amos, who cursed all the nations, saving his harshest words for his own.
But many congregants heard something different, Mr. Wagoner said, and were angry about Mr. Wright’s sermons. After his speech at the National Press Club, more frustration surfaced.
“Many in our congregation are resonating with Obama’s talk of raising the discourse and that sort of idealism, and Jeremiah Wright’s comments have pulled the level of discourse down,” Mr. Wagoner said. “People are angry at the effect it is having on Obama’s campaign. And they are angry at having to revisit the race issue.”
Clergy members say some good may come out of the controversy, including a deeper conversation on race.
“When you have diversity, you’re going to have conflict — that is the price of diversity,” said the Rev. Joseph C. Hough Jr., president of Union Theological Seminary in New York. “The challenge is to recognize conflict and open windows of reconciliation.”
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
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