http://religion.lohudblogs.com/2008/03/17/united-church-of-christ-defends-obamas-pastor/ From a New York point of view Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:51:18 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://religion.lohudblogs.com/2008/03/17/united-church-of-christ-defends-obamas-pastor/comment-page-1/#comment-7167 A Dodds Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:11:55 +0000 http://religion.lohudblogs.com/2008/03/17/united-church-of-christ-defends-obamas-pastor/#comment-7167 As the daughter of a New England Congregationalist clergy, I have been intrigued that Mr. Obama belongs to a black local church in what I had always thought was a pretty "white" mainstream denomination. (I used your website first to confirm the name of the denomination after the 1957 merger.) Anyway, your article was so well-written that I read the whole thing. It was very informative. Esp the part about the black church in Georgia that chose to join UCC mostly because of the inspiring example of this Chicago church. The eagerness of the mainstream media to pillory Rev. Wright is pathetic, ignorant and politically alarming. But the corrective for this is to get more information about this church into the media. Unfortunately, much of the media are themselves ignorant about religious life and organization and tend to want to see everything in a hierarchical context, complete with obligatory belief. (I think back to an article on p. one of the Boston Globe once suggesting that the New England Episcopalians would benefit from the advice and counsel of RC Archbishop Law on the topic of divestment from Israel.) Anyway, thanks for this article. I hope more of this gets into the mainstream media. As the daughter of a New England Congregationalist clergy, I have been intrigued that Mr. Obama belongs to a black local church in what I had always thought was a pretty “white” mainstream denomination. (I used your website first to confirm the name of the denomination after the 1957 merger.) Anyway, your article was so well-written that I read the whole thing. It was very informative. Esp the part about the black church in Georgia that chose to join UCC mostly because of the inspiring example of this Chicago church. The eagerness of the mainstream media to pillory Rev. Wright is pathetic, ignorant and politically alarming. But the corrective for this is to get more information about this church into the media. Unfortunately, much of the media are themselves ignorant about religious life and organization and tend to want to see everything in a hierarchical context, complete with obligatory belief. (I think back to an article on p. one of the Boston Globe once suggesting that the New England Episcopalians would benefit from the advice and counsel of RC Archbishop Law on the topic of divestment from Israel.) Anyway, thanks for this article. I hope more of this gets into the mainstream media.

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