Obama resigns membership from Trinity Baptist

[Notaguru2]

MCNBC is reporting that Obama has now resigned his membership from Trinity Baptist church in Chicago. Nice move Barack, you did the right and only thing you could do to silence your critics. Obama '08!

 

[Mem]

He is smart. If he trips up Hillary is there to step over him.

 

[koval]

Sounds more like damage limitation on his part.

 

[transformer_99]

Actually he can't win with this. Those that have made the leap in their minds and tied him to the radical church, will only see him leaving the church as what it is, a political move in an election year. What is he now, a man without a religion/church ? That's just as damning as being involved with a radical church to some/many ?

 

[Drifterwood]

It doesn't matter, his association will ensure that he will never be President.

 

[1BiGG1]

It’s not just that segment of the sect, the fact he was a member of the ever-wacky and always outlandish fundamentalist Baptists in the first place says I could never give him any respect no matter which one of their churches he attended.


P.S. Open message to a real god: If there’s a real god(s) that exist(s), please prevent this disgrace from becoming President!

 

[B_Nick4444]

Actually he can't win with this. Those that have made the leap in their minds and tied him to the radical church, will only see him leaving the church as what it is, a political move in an election year. What is he now, a man without a religion/church ? That's just as damning as being involved with a radical church to some/many ?

INDEED

It doesn't matter, his association will ensure that he will never be President.

ONE HOPES

It’s not just that segment of the sect, the fact he was a member of the ever-wacky and always outlandish fundamentalist Baptists in the first place says I could never give him any respect no matter which one of their churches he attended.


P.S. Open message to a real god: If there’s a real god(s) that exist(s), please prevent this disgrace from becoming President!

AMEN

 

[Skull Mason]

Do you think it is telling at all that the first black man to really have a chance to become president does not even have the support of the preachers in his own church? Looks to me like they sabotaged him.

 

[VeeP]

Hmmm... St. Obama opts for political expediency... say it isn't so.

From his speech on race, March 18, 2008:

In my first book, "Dreams From My Father," I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:

"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note -- hope! -- I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones.

"Those stories -- of survival, and freedom, and hope -- became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world.

"Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish -- and with which we could start to rebuild."

That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety -- the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger.

Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear.

The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Rev. Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children.

Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions -- the good and the bad -- of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother -- a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork.

---------------------------

Evidently it's the more attractive option this time around...

 

[prepstudinsc]

MCNBC is reporting that Obama has now resigned his membership from Trinity Baptist church in Chicago. Nice move Barack, you did the right and only thing you could do to silence your critics. Obama '08!

He resigned from Trinity United Church of Christ, not Trinity Baptist. There is a HUGE difference between the UCC and fundamentalist Baptist groups. The UCC is (overall) a very liberal denomination. While there are liberal Baptist groups, they are few and far between. The UCC is the name of what used to be called Congregational Churches, before they merged in with a sister denomination.

 

[Skull Mason]

Oh no VeeP those we do not speak of are going to come out against you in droves and blindly defend the man, just wait until they put down their "change" signs in front of their tvs after his speech tonight and head towards lpsg later...

I think he is a punk for dipping on his church like that, unless he knew they really were trying to sabotage his candidacy (which it appears they are)...

By the way, why is FOX news the only station covering his speech on leaving his church and regarding the DNC? Uh oh, maybe those we do not speak of won't even see it...

 

[VeeP]

Doubtless. Enjoying the press conference whilst the crickets chirp around here, though.

And you're right... FOX is the only one carrying this live. MSNBC just ran an excerpt on a news break, but now they're back to Lockup or whatever. CNN is running a feature about the high price of gas. Shocker.

 

[Drifterwood]

There is a HUGE difference between the UCC and fundamentalist Baptist groups.

But do they follow the gourd or the sandal?

 

[Bbucko]

No one has ever said that Obama wasn't a professional politician. And I've yet to hear that he's been canonized (or even beatified), so please stop with the over-the-top sour grapes. It's ugly and poisonous to the discourse.

I'm certain that you can quote many other members on this board attacking HRC with ardent vitriol, but you won't find any from me. I have said from the beginning that she, however qualified, is the most polarizing person in American politics today. That's what I believe, and her comportment on the campaign trail has only re-enforced it. Be that as it may, should something unexpected make Obama drop from the race (slim possibility at this point) and she were the Dem nominee, I'd vote for her, just as I voted for Kerry despite grave misgivings.

That a professional politician takes steps he and his advisers feel are required to make his candidacy more appealing to a broader spectrum of the electorate doesn't surprise me in the least. Of course it's political: this is a national election involving politicians, not medical professionals or truck drivers. Politicians make politically-calculated moves because they are politicians.

I find Obama's withdrawal from his church (which must have been a terribly sad thing for him personally) no more calculating and far less destructive to the democratic process than, say, Lee Atwater's embrace of Fundamentalist Christianity in order to help Reagan get elected in 1980 (the year God became a Republican).

 

[Skull Mason]

1980 (the year God became a Republican).

I knew there was a reason I was never a believer.

 

[VeeP]

No one has ever said that Obama wasn't a professional politician. And I've yet to hear that he's been canonized (or even beatified), so please stop with the over-the-top sour grapes. It's ugly and poisonous to the discourse.

The 'St. Obama' thing was intended to be humorous; to characterize it as 'ugly and poisonous' is a bit melodramatic, don't you think?

Let's face it, the liberal media has given Obama a pass on numerous occasions, and tonight was no exception. In the age of the 24/7 news cycle I find it highly curious that neither CNN nor MSNBC saw fit to carry his announcement and press conference. Now, NBC has become Obama election headquarters, so no surprise there, but for CNN not to carry it either truly surprised me.

That a professional politician takes steps he and his advisers feel are required to make his candidacy more appealing to a broader spectrum of the electorate doesn't surprise me in the least. Of course it's political: this is a national election involving politicians, not medical professionals or truck drivers. Politicians make politically-calculated moves because they are politicians.

The problem being that heretofore Obama has sold himself as one who is above the fray of "politics as usual". He has continually morphed his position on Rev. Wright, and is now walking away from a 20-year affiliation with Trinity. If that's the kind of "change" this guy stands for, then I get it.

 

[Principessa]

MCNBC is reporting that Obama has now resigned his membership from Trinity Baptist church in Chicago. Nice move Barack, you did the right and only thing you could do to silence your critics. Obama '08!

I don't know about that. I think his critics will always find something about which to deride him.

He resigned from Trinity United Church of Christ, not Trinity Baptist. There is a HUGE difference between the UCC and fundamentalist Baptist groups. The UCC is (overall) a very liberal denomination. While there are liberal Baptist groups, they are few and far between. The UCC is the name of what used to be called Congregational Churches, before they merged in with a sister denomination.

Thank you for explaining that. I had friends that attended a Congregationalist church when I lived in Massachusetts years ago. I sometimes went with them and can attest to the fact they were far from the fundamentalist Baptist churches I remember from my childhood.

It’s not just that segment of the sect, the fact he was a member of the ever-wacky and always outlandish fundamentalist Baptists in the first place says I could never give him any respect no matter which one of their churches he attended

.

You need to read Prepstuinsc's post and get your facts straight before you start spouting your hateration.

P.S. Open message to a real god: If there’s a real god(s) that exist(s), please prevent this disgrace from becoming President!

IMHO, George W. Bush takes the award for Presidential disgraces. Both Barack and Hillary have a long way to go to surpass his idiocy. Barack Obama in particular is a far cry from being a disgrace.

As for a real God, who might that be? Buddha? Mohammed? Yahweh? Ganesh?

Actually he can't win with this. Those that have made the leap in their minds and tied him to the radical church, will only see him leaving the church as what it is, a political move in an election year. What is he now, a man without a religion/church ? That's just as damning as being involved with a radical church to some/many ?

Unfortunately I agree. I am sorry it came to this though. :frown1:

 

[B_RedDude]

Bbucko, I am SO glad that I am not the only person on this site to know the difference between beatification and canonization!

And I've yet to hear that he's been canonized (or even beatified), so please stop with the over-the-top sour grapes. It's ugly and poisonous to the discourse.

 

[VeeP]

IMHO, George W. Bush takes the award for Presidential disgraces. Both Barack and Hillary have a long way to go to surpass his idiocy. Barack Obama in particular is a far cry from being a disgrace.

I'd say the company he keeps certainly brings his judgment into question. Neither of the clowns from whom he's been forced to distance himself and now disjoin his church are mere acquaintances. To conclude at this point he's somehow better than GWB or HRC is mighty big assumption on your part considering he hasn't proven himself electable yet, much less served even one day as POTUS. He is, I'm afraid, yet another flawed candidate for the Dems. At least HRC has been vetted, who knows what or who may crawl out next for Obama.

 

[lgej]

It’s not just that segment of the sect, the fact he was a member of the ever-wacky and always outlandish fundamentalist Baptists in the first place says I could never give him any respect no matter which one of their churches he attended.


P.S. Open message to a real god: If there’s a real god(s) that exist(s), please prevent this disgrace from becoming President!

Your lack of information is showing. Obama has been a member of the United Church of Christ...not the Baptist church. It is fairly progressive Protestant group that is, ironically, mostly a Caucasian group. Have your opinion, just try to get an accurate "back story" alongside it. Peace!