REVERAND WRIGHT REVISITED

How could Obama sit in a pew of Trinity United Church of Christ for twenty years and listen to the racist and radical teachings of Rev. Wright?  Wright’s sermons are full of tales of oppression and hatred not compassion and love.  I find it impossible to envision myself in Obama’s seat listening to those same sermons week after week, year after year.  The only possible explanation is that Obama had to believe or come to believe what Rev. Wright said. How can I be so sure? Obama claims to disavow himself from Rev. Wright’s teachings- yet he repeatedly chose to go to Trinity United Church of Christ and expose his daughters to Rev. Wright’s angry sermons even though there were other churches available. In fact, Obama visited several churches on the South Side of Chicago before he picked Trinity which espouses Black Liberation Theology.

If Obama is a post-racial candidate who didn’t agree with Rev. Wright’s picture of Black and White America, attending Rev. Wright’s Pro-African Church would caused him tremendous cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is the psychological discomfort that occurs when how you behave is psychologically incompatible to what you believe.  To reduce cognitive dissonance Obama would have had to have "left the church" and joined another church that was more in line with his beliefs.  Since he did not leave Trinity Church he most likely believed Rev. Wright's teachings when he joined the church or changed his belief system to match Rev. Wright's beliefs.   

I also wonder how did sitting in a pew at Trinity United Church of Christ impact Obama's views on America and being Black in America?  After twenty-years of hearing his mentor rant about injustice and discrimination in America, what did Obama internalize? Only Senator Obama can answer that question, but no one can willingly not listen to a preacher week after week for twenty years and not be influenced. 

My Grandmother used to say, “Actions speak louder than words.”  Obama says he finds many of the preaching’s of Rev. Wright objectionable, yet his actions tell a different story.   Obama’s continued church attendance, his large monetary donations to his church and the NAACP, and his exposure of his daughters to Rev. Wright, say he does agree with Rev. Wright.  Do you believe Obama’s words or his actions?  I agree with my Grandmother.

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