Black liberation theology takes direct aim at racism

c. 2008 Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly WASHINGTON _ Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday (March 18) urged America to overcome its troubled racial history, starting with the “original sin” of slavery whose effects are still felt in modern-day inequality between blacks and whites. He also tried to overcome the racially charged comments of his former pastor, […]

c. 2008 Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

WASHINGTON _ Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday (March 18) urged America to overcome its troubled racial history, starting with the “original sin” of slavery whose effects are still felt in modern-day inequality between blacks and whites. He also tried to overcome the racially charged comments of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, that have dogged his campaign.

How well did he do? Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly asked eight scholars of history, politics and theology to assess the speech:


Not since Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech have we heard anyone speak with such power and pathos to a nation in search of its soul. Obama called on his church and nation to do two things at once: to affirm race and to transcend it. We are called to affirm who we are and acknowledge the contradictions inherent in our language, style of worship and ethos. We are also instructed to reach beyond race, religion and ethnicity and join in a common embrace.

_ Noel Leo Erskine, associate professor of theology and ethics, Emory University

I am reminded of a group of Catholic parishioners who visited a young priest from their parish jailed for a protest at the Pentagon. “He may be a crazy priest,” one of them said, “but he’s our crazy priest.”

_ David O’Brien, professor of Roman Catholic studies, College of the Holy Cross

Barack Obama gave full and proper weight to the dark evil of slavery and racism with which this country has never fully come to terms. And yet I still came away troubled by the depth of hatred evidenced by Rev. Wright. As an evangelical Christian who believes in the reality of both God’s blessings and his damnation, to call upon God to damn any person or nation is a fearsome thing to do. This was more than a colorful, powerful and angry way of saying our nation has been and still is infected by the sin of racism.

_ Steve Monsma, senior research fellow, Calvin College

It’s been 40 years since we have heard redemptive language in the political arena. Like Martin Luther King Jr., Obama did not flinch from addressing the lingering pain and anger of racism in America. Like King, Obama understands how questions of race are bound up with religion. It’s no accident that the current controversy arose in a congregation. Historically, the only institution in which blacks could express their rage _ and their hope _ has been within the confines of the sermon and the exuberant worship of the black church.

_ Richard Lischer, professor of preaching, Duke Divinity School

Not only is Obama’s candor remarkable but so too his matter-of-fact acceptance of human flaws and frailties. He does not require Americans to deny their less-than-admirable gut feelings and profess love for one another. Appeals of that sort, he seems to sense, are utopian, despite their sentimental charm. Rather, he urges Americans to come together in practical solidarity to work on common problems.

_ Leo P. Ribuffo, professor of history, George Washington University

Obama’s speech was both rhetorically eloquent and substantively unsatisfying. He describes Rev. Wright as “imperfect.” That’s a wonderful psychological term, and we all sympathize with human imperfections. But people rightly wonder why Obama would continue in that church all these years. His pastor’s comments have, really for the first time, poked a hole in his lofty campaign-by-rhetoric. Perhaps voters will begin now to demand more of him.

_ David Davenport, professor of public policy, Pepperdine University

By naming the “original sin” of America as chattel slavery, Obama anchored the historical and political situation at a level of profundity most people, white and black, feel is the only appropriate one for this crime. He echoed biblical patterns, most obviously from Deuteronomy: “I have set before you life and death … choose life.” He drew from the language of the Hebrew prophets the idea that God is doing a “new thing.” This is a use of civil religion not rooted in apocalyptic endings, or titanic final battles between good and evil, but a struggle inside the nation, and inside each soul, between hope and fear. Is Obama right? Is America ready for this? I suppose we won’t know unless we try.


_ Charles T. Mathewes, associate professor of religious ethics and the history of Christian thought, University of Virginia

Obama decided to use this crisis as an opportunity to teach. It was a bracing lesson. It tests whether Americans have the capacity to deal with a nuanced presentation of both our history and our current realities. To read this kind of articulate, honest and profound speech from a politician gives me hope that our staggering and, yes, I believe, declining nation might actually find the kind of leadership it needs to do better.

_ David P. Gushee, professor of Christian ethics, Mercer University

KRE/PH END DANIEL

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