I don't know about you but I've about reached my limit when it comes to Obama and Hillary--and it's only March! The issue of Obama's "Pastor Disaster" speaks once again to doctrine and to integrity. This man stood in a pulpit week after week and taught Black Liberation theology--a theology that would end any white pastor's ministry.

Black Liberation Theology - Born in Latin America, it flourished in the 1960s at the height of the struggle for racial equality. At the heart of it is "black power"; a fierce, fighting spirit that will not allow whites to rest until they admit that blacks are human beings. It portrays Jesus as the ultimate liberator from all things evil but denounces Christianity as a tool of the white man used to foment oppression. James H. Cone, the 1960s pioneer of Black Liberation theology wrote:

"Theologically, Malcolm X was not far wrong when he called the white man 'the devil.' The white structure of this American society, personified in every racist, must be at least part of what the New Testament meant by the demonic forces...this is the bondage of racism. Racism is that bondage in which whites are free to beat, rape, or kill blacks. About thirty years ago it was acceptable to lynch a black man by hanging him from a tree; but today whites destroy him by crowding him into the ghetto and letting filth and despair put the final touches on death." [1]

And . . .

"If there is any contemporary meaning of the Antichrist, the white church seems to be a manifestation of it." [2]

Racism is abhorrent to God and we should hate it and fight against it, but rhetoric like this is inflammatory and will only lead to more bitterness and sadly, to even more racism. And Barack Obama listened to this for almost 20 years. Obama knew what Rev. Wright believed and taught, and he condoned it by simply remaining silent. This is a man who is a follower, not a leader.

I don't think we've heard the last of Rev. Wright, and personally, I don't think Obama will be able to escape the tainted shadow of a man who spouted racially charged rhetoric from a church pulpit for decades.

If I were Senator Obama, I would start working on another speech or two. He's going to need them.

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[1] Cone, James H. Black Theology and Black Power. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1997, 40-41.
[2] Ibid, 73.