Damn you rich! You already have your compensation.
Damn you who are well-fed! You will know hunger.
Damn you who laugh now! You will weep and grieve.
Damn you when everybody speaks well of you!
Luke 6:24-26, Scholars Version

For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;
because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals—
they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way;
father and son go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned;
they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge;
and in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed.
Amos 2:6-8, New Revised Standard Version

Don't let anybody make you think God chose America as his divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with justice and it seems I can hear God saying to America 'you are too arrogant, and if you don't change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power, and I will place it in the hands of a nation that doesn't even know my name. Be still and know that I'm God. Men will beat their swords into plowshafts and their spears into pruning hooks, and nations shall not rise up against nations, neither shall they study war anymore.' I don't know about you, I ain't going to study war anymore.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 8/16/1967

Recent discussions of Rev. Wright and Barack Obama have made it quite apparent that the contemporary media has absolutely no understanding of the prophetic tradition. That Obama has rejected Wright's words - a political necessity given his chief opponent's amorality and willingness to distort or twist anything to assassinate his character - does not make their woeful negligence any more acceptable.

There is a long tradition in Judaism and Christianity of the prophet - of the one who speaks hard truths to a nation and is vilified for it, who says outrageous things and is (literally or symbolically) put to death by the society for calling out their sins. Kenneth Burke would describe this as a sort of communal mortification, the sacrifice of a scapegoat for the sine of the community in order to bring catharsis, redemption, and the repair of the breach. The prophet tells the community that they are doing wrong, tells them that God's punishment is on them for their sins, and is put to death in order to right them.

Though he has some details wrong, Wright certainly falls into this tradition. What is he calling America out for? Why is he proclaiming God's judgment on America? The same reason Amos, Dr. King, and Jesus did - we have allowed the rich to exploit all of humanity in pursuit of greed, we have made war on innocents for material ambition, and we have neglected the abject poverty and deep divisions in our own community as well as those around the world. From those to whom much is given, much is expected. Whether or not you agree with Dr. Wright's assessment of the situation - and certainly reasonable minds can differ on that - if you accept that he sees the world in this way, the Christian pastor has no choice but to prophetically call out the sin he/she sees. Dr. King felt this need; Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson felt this need; Rev. Wright feels this need. And now he is being symbolically put to death for the nation's transgressions, as even moderate political commentators are damning him for his words.

All this is to say that there is nothing Wright has said that is outside of the mainstream of historical orthodox Christian thought. Those who think otherwise have confused American Rightist nationalism with orthodox Christian theology. If you believe - as all Christians should - that God is truly above nations, that right and wrong transcend borders of patriotism or language or economic/political ideology, then there is nothing in Dr. Wright's words that is at all objectionable. Those Christians who are troubled by his words should interrogate themselves and their own theology first, before taking up stones to cast at Wright, the Black church, and the prophetic tradition.

Labels: Barack Obama, Jeremiah Wright, Politics, Primary Election 2008, Race, Religion