Hannity selectively excerpted interview with Obama's pastor in order to paint him as "separatist"
On the March 20 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Fox News host Sean Hannity repeated allegations that Trinity Church of Christ -- of which Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is a member -- is "separatist." Specifically, Hannity claimed that he "discovered" via the church's website "that the pastor of the church has very Afro-centric and separatist views." Hannity proceeded to air an audio clip of an interview from the March 1 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, in which he confronted Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., pastor of Trinity, about the church's 12-point "Black Value System." After the brief clip concluded, he stated: "[I]t got very heated later in the interview, but I won't play that now."
But Hannity omitted the subsequent portion of the interview in which co-host Alan Colmes asked Wright directly about allegations that Trinity is "a black separatist church." In response, Wright explained that Trinity's philosophy does not "assume superiority nor does it assume separatism." Wright continued: "We have no hierarchal arrangement. When you say an African-centered way of thinking -- African-centered philosophy, African-centered theology -- you're talking about one center. We're talking about something that's different, and different does not mean deficient ... nor does it mean superior or inferior."
In response to widespread distortions of its philosophy, Trinity recently posted "talking points" on its website that state: "To have a church whose theological perspective starts from the vantage point of Black liberation theology being its center, is not to say that African or African American people are superior to any one else."
From the March 20 broadcast of The Sean Hannity Show:
HANNITY: Now, we have on this program chronicled Barack Obama's church. Now, I don't believe we should have religious litmus tests. And I've talked about that, you know, I think, for example, Mitt Romney, has a legitimate faith, he is a member of the Latter-Day Saints, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints -- LDS - perhaps better known as the Mormon Church, and I think he has been unfairly singled out for his religious views. Now, with that said, I don't really care what the religious affiliation is of Barack Obama. And I think we ought not have religious litmus tests. But once we looked at, for example, the website of the Trinity United Church, where he goes, this is where we discovered that the pastor of the church has very Afro-centric and separatist views. And that's why they have these precepts: you know, commitment to the black community, commitment to the black family, it goes one. What else here? You know, it's all on and on and on. And it says, for example, "Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the black community." "Pledge to allocate regularly a portion of personal resources for strengthening and supporting black institution, personal allegiance to all black leadership." Embracing, you know, the "Black Value System." And I had his pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, on Hannity & Colmes.
[begin audio clip]
HANNITY: Commitment to the black community. Commitment to the black family. Adherence to the black work ethic. It goes on, pledge, you know, acquired skills available to the black community. Strengthening and supporting black institutions, pledging allegiance to the black leadership who have embraced the "Black Value System." Personal commitment to the embracement of the "Black Value System." Now, Reverend, if every time we said "black," if it was a church and those words were "white," wouldn't we call that church racist?
WRIGHT: No, we would call it Christianity. We've been saying that since there was a white Christianity, we've been saying that ever since white Christians took part in the slave trade, we've been saying that ever since they've had churches and slave castles. We don't have to say the word white, we just have to live in white America -- the United States of white America. That's not the issue --
[end audio clip]
HANNITY: You know, and we got -- it got very heated later in the interview, but I won't play that now.
From the March 1 broadcast of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:
COLMES: I want the public to understand where your church is coming from, because you're being accused of being a black separatist church, and thus Obama is being accused by default of being a black separatist. Could you straighten that out for us please?
WRIGHT: OK. The African-centered point of view does not assume superiority, nor does it assume separatism. It assumes Africans speaking for themselves, as subjects in history, not objects in history. It comes from the principles of Kawaida the second principle being Kujichagulia which is self-determination -- us naming ourselves, and not saying we are superior to anybody. We have no hierarchal arrangement. When you say an African-centered way of thinking -- African-centered philosophy, African-centered theology -- you're talking about one center, we're talking about something that's different, and different does not mean deficient.
COLMES: Aren't there black churches --
WRIGHT: Nor does it mean superior or inferior. The whole notion of hierarchical, one's superior, let's be separate because we're better, that's nothing -- has absolutely nothing to do with us.
Is anyone surprised?
Tommy will be here any minute.
No, not really. that is typical behavoir of pathological liars. And you are no doubt correct about Tommy coming along to tell us we should not pay attention and for us to just look at the pretty colors while the repuke treason machine destroys the Constitution.
No,Tommy's doing his "Last Stand at the Alamo" shtick over in the serial killer thread...
"No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."— U.S. Constitution, Article 6, Section 3.
So, Sean, what's your point?
My beef is that so many have been trying to make the impression that this church is exclusionary, where that isn't the case. This is a flat out attack on Obama's religious beliefs based on completely twisted and bogus information.
This is just the latest salvo in the carefully constructed smear campaign against Obama. It all falls within the "Magic Negro" boogeyman paradigm. They really want to call him an "uppity n......", but they know that even their Troglodyte base would be put off by such brazen racism.
To easy of a target.
Hannity is to easy for all of you. You guys are enjoying it to much. I don't it think it is very nice to pick on such an easy target. He does it get it and he never will.
Yeah, there's really no two ways about it. It's simply a flat out lie to say that the church is separatist. And making that claim only serves to reveal Hannity's racist perspective. He's completely cornered himself with this argument, in that he's either a liar, a racist, or both. There's no other option.
Does anybody know Sean goes to church? I'd like to make it a big freakin deal. I don't have a show on the teevee but I can still raise hell in my own little way. This jack@ss opened the door to questioning others xianity and I'd like to attack his frivolous belief in the holy spirit. What an unbelievable jerk. You have to have no ethics to cut and slice an interview to get the message you want delivered. As Al Franken once pointed out, if you have to lie to make your point, your point isn't worth making. What a punk.
Hannity's just jealous...
Rush, Glenn Beck, Mikey Wiener-Savage and the rest of the guys have been getting more exposure and Sean wants a bigger share of the spotlight.
I say give it to him.
Ohhh yeaaahh, give it to him.
So now is it not only proper and prudent to be a Christian to run for an elected office (most of the time anyway, with a few exceptions here and there), but you have to be the "right" kind of Christian? What the hell is going on here? I want someone to run who is a member of the Flying Spaghetti Monster religion, now that would be someone I could vote for right there.
www.venganza.org
They will probably end up with a sectarian fight between meatballs or plain.
Is this supposed to disturb me more than having a president who believes that Armageddon is just around the corner? Or a president who thinks Creationism should be represented in the taxpayer-funded Grand Canyon giftshop?
Dictionary (Merriam-Webster Collegiate) definition of separatist:
c: an advocate of racial or cultural separation
Reverend Wright implies that to be a separatist you must group by having the inferior in one group, superior in the other. No such distinction is involved in the definition of separatist.
My church has no racial distinctions: We do things to aid families, and it is not asked nor deduced what racial background anyone has or even if they belong to our faith or any faith. There is no racial aspect to participation in any church activity. If someone were to try to set up a committee to help keep white families together, I would strongly object.
While there is no religious test for public office in the US,
OK, let's shoot this nonsense down right away. The church has white members.
"We do things to aid families, and it is not asked nor deduced what racial background anyone has or even if they belong to our faith or any faith. There is no racial aspect to participation in any church activity."
Can you specifically point out how this church acts any differently than yours?
If they specifically aid black families based on race rather than need, then yes.
Why would they aid black families who were not in need? How does this exclude other families of different races in need? Can you point to specific events were they have excluded families based on race?
Did they donate to Exclusively balck Katrina charities?
Anything info would be helpful.
He asked you for specifics and you gave a hypothetical. Give a specific example please.
Okay MoShow, you gave us the definition. Now show us where Obama's church advocates racial or cultural SEPARATION.
It assumes Africans speaking for themselves
....... as subjects in history, not objects in history.
What's wrong with that?
You are missing my point.
Read what the minister said:
The whole notion of hierarchical, one's superior, let's be separate because we're better, that's nothing -- has absolutely nothing to do with us.
So while other churches focus on eternal salvation, aid for the impoverished, etc., these folks apparently focus on items exclusive to the Negro/Black race. That is separation based on race. As I said before, the minister seems to imply that they are not separatist because they do not see themselves as superior (or inferior, for that matter).
You can talk about supposed implications all you want, but you are ignoring what the minister said explicitly: "The African-centered point of view does not assume superiority, nor does it assume separatism."
Why do you favor mind-reading over the minister's actual words?
Again how are any of their actions "exclusive to the Negro/Black race."?
The only thing that statement implies is that they do not promote the notion that the black race is supperior to any other race. The statement does not address the churches "focus".
You by some stretch of the imagination are implying that the church's purpose is exclusionary without pointing out specifically where they have said or done anything of the sort.
That's not separatist, that's just where they focus their efforts.
My church helps shelters for abused women. The SBA focuses exclusively on small businesses. AA focuses exclusively on alchoholics. The humane society focuses exclusively on pets. The NRA focuses on gun owners. AARP focuses exclusively on retired people. The national council of jewish women focuses on jewish women.
Are all these groups separatist? It's called special interest, I'm sure you have some of your own. The key is that they don't want to be parted from society, but accepted as an equal part OF society. What you call black favoritism now is what used to (and still does, though not to it's historical extent) set these people apart to be treated differently in our society. It's just much easier to say "black" than "persons discriminated against because of their historical african heritage and different skin color and who were used as slaves and considered only 7/10ths of a person in the eyes of the government and were victims of lynchings and beatings and for whom it was legal to force to sit in the back of the bus as recently as 50 years ago".
MOSHOW: It assumes Africans speaking for themselves
RUSTY: Wha wha WHAAAAAAT?Don't you get it, Rusty? We can't have THAT.
WRIGHT: OK. The African-centered point of view does not assume superiority, nor does it assume separatism. It assumes Africans speaking for themselves, as subjects in history, not objects in history. It comes from the principles of Kawaida the second principle being [link to www.christocentric.com] color="#0052a3">Kujichagulia which is self-determination -- us naming ourselves, and not saying we are superior to anybody. We have no hierarchal arrangement. When you say an African-centered way of thinking -- African-centered philosophy, African-centered theology -- you're talking about one center, we're talking about something that's different, and different does not mean deficient.
"My church has no racial distinctions: We do things to aid families, and it is not asked nor deduced what racial background anyone has or even if they belong to our faith or any faith. There is no racial aspect to participation in any church activity. If someone were to try to set up a committee to help keep white families together, I would strongly object."
I'm a black man, and I wouldn't object to a committee to helping keep white families together. I don't see why you should object to the opposite.
They're not excluding anyone. Nor are they claiming to be racially superior. What's wrong w/ black unity? There's no white exclusion.
I don't see what's the problem?
looks like moshowme has a problem with not just blacks being 'uppity', but also with families. sounds like moshome is a very sad pathetic person who needs lots of therapy...
Personally, I don't even see an advantage to getting tangled up in their "But what if it was a white church" argument, because people who throw out this argument refuse to acknowledge the reasons why a black community would need to band together. And if they refuse to acknowledge the difference between black and white, then it's as pointless as arguing with a Holocaust denier.
Clams,
Congratulations on being the Godwin's Law award winner for this session!
In passing, let me state that in my humble opinion, Obama's church is engaging in separatist activities based on race. Their minister apparently believes incorrectly that to be a separatist, you must believe that between the two separated groups, one must be superior to the other. Some of you folks are taking what I said and have somehow deduced that I am against uppity blacks and families. You have played off one another beyond the point of being absurd.
Have a great day!
You demonstrate your 1st grade reading comprehension by ignoring the second part of the sentence.
"The African-centered point of view does not assume superiority, nor does it assume separatism."
The sentence clearly indicates the the minister is referring to superiority and separatism as 2 seperate things that are not mutually exclusive.
Since we already have a Godwin's Law winner...
Do you begrudge the Jews for unifying to create Israel after the Holocaust? Weren't they being separatists in your mind? Was it immoral of them?
If not, do you see any historic parallels between black unification after hundreds of years of slavery/jim crowe and how the Jews unified after the Holocaust?
Godwin's law sure seems to be invoked by those most likely to have their argument hurt by Nazi references.I know, obvious, but I guess that's the point of the "law".
I consciously violated Godwin's Law, because I believe that the comparison here is completely valid. If you'd like to argue it's validity, then have at it, but simply violating Godwin's Law is no indication of a weakness in my argument.
You were actually being accused of having upheld Godwin's Law:
A propos of your point, though, the Wikipedia reference goes on to state:
Ah, thanks.
And anyway, I thought "pointless as arguing with a Holocaust denier" fell far short of the Godwin threshhold, FWIW. Just seemed like a novel, and cogent, reformulation of "you can't teach a pig to sing."
"Separatism" implies the desire to separate from or become independent of others. While the church may encourage a type of 'cultural" separatism, I see nothing on their website to indicate that they want political separation. I think you're confusing separatism with acknowledgement of cultural distinction.
In any case, Sean is clearly trying to scare the knuckledraggers in the South into thinking Obama will pursue policies that would somehow oppress the white majority. Just more race-baiting from the Right.
I think you are on to something here. Obama's race is mentioned so much by the Republicans at every turn. It appears they are trying to keep a steady mention of race with regards to Obama so as to continually remind a chunk of the country that Obama is black. Just in case they didn't already notice it and started to like him.
Remember, these are the guys who brought us the "southern strategy" in the first place.
Hannity is pathetic
His disgusting statements and hate toward anyone who is not a Republican and Bush war criminal apologist is also pathetic.
After the brief clip concluded, he stated: "[I]t got very heated later in the interview, but I won't play that now."
In Hannity talk, that equates to, "I won't play the part of the interview that COMPLETELY dissproves my politically motivated smear on Barack Obama. And when I say I won't play it 'now,' that means EVER."
I still feel like people are missing the point. Obama's Church wants to worship from an African perspective. What's wrong with that? does anyone ever question the blonde, blue eyed Jesus common in white American churches as "seperatist" or Eurocentric? because they are.
Not a whole lot of blue eyed, blond haired people being born in the middle east. Anyone who suggests that worshipping from an African perspective is somehow wrong should ask themselves why the Jesus in their Church looks like a Scandanavian, and not an Arab.
Jesus probably looked a lot like Jeff Goldblum...
I've found that pretty amusing ever since I was a kid. I'd see pictures of people from the area of the world where Jesus came from, then look at the paintings of Jesus, and think "Why does he look like the guy I see out surfing, or one of the Bee-Gees?"
Is MoSho gone? I guess showing up with the "information" that Rush gave you doesn't always work out that well.
Actually, Jesus probably looked more like Barack Obama :P
::ducks the blunt objects thrown from the right::
If you really think about it how is Obama's church much different than say a Greek Orthodox Church?
Bet you find the congregation is 99.9% Greek.
With a Greek-centered philosophy, Greek-centered theology....
Just a thought....
Thanks a lot, Jeter.
Now I'm scared of Greeks, too.
Maybe a wild conspiracy theory, but why do we never hear these right wing pundits/flacks criticizing each other? Surely as much as they like to point out the flaws in other people, attack their looks, criticize their elementary school book reports etc. they would eventually have at least some criticism's of what should be their competitors. If I was really a conspiracy nut I might think there was some anti-trust violations going on, some agreement amongst themselves to not criticize each other.
Don't you think it's obvious? They all work for the same person/people, and are operating from a shared set of talking points. I don't really buy the notion that Rush Limbaugh got where he is strictly by market forces. I think he, Hannity, Beck, Coulter, etc. have been subsidized by someone.
Yeah, yeah, tinfoil hat time. It just seems odd that they are so monolithic in their message and methods.
with the 24/7 cable time slot, they never have to compete for microphone time. As a matter of fact, FOX repeats daily shows later at night.
Again, the right continually harps that 'blacks are not taking enough responsibility for their own plight..always claiming victimhood, etc.,'
This church is taking a proactive stance on addressing the above issues only to be condemed by those same folks on the right for being separatist.
I'd like to see Hannity walk down Martin Luther King Way, here in Seattle without Bill O'Reilly's personal FOX Army. I'd pay to see that. This former electrical installer needs a life experience.
This guy wrote a beautiful letter to the NYTimes. This in my mind is the best argument for getting the pastors on our side - the eloquence!
This is typical of Hannity. He knows nothing about the history of African American churches. He needs to attend Sunday services at an African American church in New York City to see how services are conducted compared to other non-black churches.
Sitting on African American organizations' national advisory boards and attending African American events don't count, Hannity.
Hannity knows exactly what he is doing. He purposely smeared Trinity Church and the pastor, Dr. Wright for political purposes. He doesn't want ANY Democrat in the White House, including Obama, and will do anything in his power to stop it. He is a clever guy.
I don't like the guy because he is a phony and hypocrite. If you think he is bad on radio and televison, wait until you see him in person.
Alan? Is that you? Welcome!
My God. On one hand we tell the black community that they will have to find the solutions of many problems they face and, when they do make an effort to focus of their community, people like Hannity call them separatists. What I see in Obama’s place of worship is a church that has a desire to play a central role in the foundation in black family and community. This church sees an opportunity to take the true meaning to Christianity and use it as a resource to strength the black community. Instead of praising the church for instilling positive values, Hannity has the find some criticism to tarnish Obama’s image. The church is Afro-centric because that is the community they serve. (Like the Korean church in my neighborhood, their parishioners are primarily of Korean descent. Their church literature and sermon are in Korean. Are they separatists?) As a white Southern, I have been welcomed into more black churches than my African American friends into white one. If Hannity is so worried the so called “separatist” nature of religious institutions, he need to look at large organizations like the Southern Baptist Convention— a major Republican supporter-- and see how many black members are recruited to their churches. In the 1970s I stopped going to mine when the congregation refused to allow people of color to worship there. I now live in Chicago and I truly believe that I would feel more at home in Obama’s church than the one I attended from my childhood home.