Could Wright be Wrong?
Or perhaps Jeremiah Wright is simply “haywire”, as some of his detractors contend. An even greater mystery is how a man whose sayings are either immoral or irrational, depending who you ask, could strike such a chord with so many people. Have we the people gone haywire too?
Certainly, we can all agree that Wright is controversial. Of course, it is a regular event in churches across the US for pastors to condemn most people in the US and the world over for the sin of not accepting the words they say as Gospel, which is not controversial. As a profession, ministers claim deep knowledge of an entity no one can see and for which there is no ready proof, which of course doesn’t rise to the level of argument. But Wright’s statements, on the other hand, are highly controversial. And this is the great irony: for all the alleged “controversy” of Wright’s statements, actual discussion about their validity is about as scarce as a sewing machine at a nudist colony. So Wright’s problem isn’t his facts, which we’re kept in the dark about. It’s his words.
To condemn Wright for saying “God damn America” is not to say these words have no merit. It is the mere utterance of these three words that constitutes an unpardonable crime, an act of treachery tantamount to blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, Wall Street Journal editorialists Suzanne Sataline and Nick Timiraos could not even bring themselves to write out these objectionable words, settling instead for “God d- America”. It doesn’t matter whether there’s any reason that God would damn America. The words are the crime.
To some people, however, these words express their anger towards our country. To Wright, I think, it’s a condemnation of our own perfidy. He “likens the struggles against oppression to those of the prophets of the Scriptures”. Compare this to former UK parliamentarian Tony Benn: “the story of the Bible was conflict between the kings who had power, and the prophets who preached righteousness. And I was taught to believe in the prophets, got me into a lot of trouble.” Indeed, it takes a great deal of energy to “speak truth to power”, because power doesn’t well tolerate defiance.
And to defend against our intolerance of his statement, Wright simply says, “God doesn’t bless everything.” That is, there are things God condemns, namely evil. There is right and wrong. In spite of accusations of relativism, people of every political affiliation are perfectly able to distinguish good from evil. Despite intervening shades of grey, black and white still exist. And what is evil? Stealing the wealth of other countries, attacking them aggressively, and oppressing one’s own people to get away with it are good examples. How could we say “God bless America” while this is happening? Would not our greatest blessing be to turn from such injustice?
But whether US actions are right or wrong seems to be beneath discussion. Wright’s critics are simply appalled that any US citizen would use such language against their own country. Truth is not an issue. It is enough that Wright violated the sanctity of our Holy of Holies, the nation that is good by definition. His error was not factual, but grammatical. Wright’s critics, if pressed, would probably offer some token argument against his assertions. But in a country where, for example, one in nine Black men, ages 20 to 34, is in prison—indeed, one in one hundred of all adults—there are only about two viable conclusions: either there is some sort of injustice prevalent in our society, or else US citizens in general and Black men in particular are naturally immoral. Would we not want God to damn this injustice?
Obama had the opportunity to take the substance of Wright’s numerous statements and use it as a springboard to address the major issues of our day, e.g. aggressive war, exploitation of the poor, and the meaning of governance by consent. Instead, Obama practically denied knowing the man, perhaps even three times “before the cock crew”. I guess justice simply isn’t as compelling a campaign issue as “character”. Truly, “a prophet hath no honor in his own country”.
