Editorial Comment: I am posting a copy of the entire article here because I have discovered that sometimes it is impossible to locate an article published by Adventist Today after publication by the original Internet link.
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Is Jeremiah Wright Right?
Posted April 15th, 2008 by Marcel Schwantes
Opinion: Is Jeremiah Wright Right?
by John Thomas McLarty
"God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme." -Rev. Jeremiah Wright, 2003
Jeremiah Wright is right. I do not mean I agree with every fact asserted by Mr. Wright, though most of his assertions are incontrovertible historical facts. I don't even mean that I agree with every moral valuation assigned by Mr. Wright. But Wright is right when he weighs our country, the United States of America, on the scales of justice and finds us wanting. Wright is right to employ the most forceful moral language available to describe our culpability. He is right to speak dramatically in his appeal for divine action in response to America's history of slavery, Jim Crow legislation, deeply embedded social evil and ignoble military actions.
It is silly to attempt to smear Democratic presidential hopeful, Barak Obama, because of his close association with a preacher who speaks bluntly about American evil. We are much safer when our preachers challenge the comfortable assumptions of those in power than when our preachers blithely identify patriotism and justice, join the cultural majority in blessing the status quo and uncritically accept official justifications of immoral actions.
We celebrate America's intervention to save the world from German and Japanese aggression. We forget our atrocity-filled war against the Philippines in 1900. We ignore our cozy relationship with all sorts of right-wing dictators. We overlook the role of the U.S. in supplying Saddam Hussein with the materials for making WMD's (poison gas weapons). We approved Hussein's gassing of Iranians. We forget that Iran was a democracy before the CIA installed the Shah whose brutal, totalitarian rule catalyzed the rise of Muslim extremism.
If we are going to sing "God bless America" for our heroic service in WWII and our generosity to Germany and Japan after that war, then we can hardly complain when our preachers proclaim "God damn America" for our atrocities and willing participation in oppression.
Like other countries, America has had moments of greatness, hours of pedestrian evil and occasions of horrific brutality and evil. If we are going to celebrate a God powerful enough that we are compelled to invoke his blessing, it makes sense to acknowledge this same God is powerful enough to damn-to curse, to chastise, to punish, to exact retribution. The smart accompaniment to this knowledge is repentance, not protestations of innocence.
Jeremiah Wright is right to remind us God is not merely a tool of our self-congratulation. God's will and national interest are not necessarily coterminous.
In thundering "God damn America" Jeremiah Wright echoes his namesake, the prophet Jeremiah. God directed the ancient prophet to stand on the steps of the temple in Jerusalem and declare, "Thus says the Lord, "Do not trust in deceptive words and say, 'This is the temple of the Lord!' . . . Do not pray for this people . . . My anger and wrath will be poured out on this place. . .'" (Jeremiah 7) If this was God's word concerning the nation of Israel, the "chosen people," then certainly we ought not be surprised when a preacher declares "God damn America as long as she thinks she is God."
Jeremiah Wright is right because he echoes the words of Jesus. "Woe to you Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! . . . And you Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you." Matthew 11.
Capernaum is mentioned elsewhere as "Jesus' own city." Jesus demonstrated his regard for Capernaum by spending a major portion of his ministry there. But his loyalty to Capernaum did not muzzle his moral voice. Being a patriot does mean a prophet speaks only sweet affirmations.
We want our preachers to bless our wars, to invoke divine protection for our troops, to implore heaven for the triumph of our cause. But sometimes, if a preacher listens closely to the Spirit of God, he or she is compelled to thunder against national priorities, to rebuke national leaders, to condemn national habits and mores.
Instead of complaining about Jeremiah Wright's stern message, we ought rather to devote ourselves to the repentance that might avert the justly-threatened damnation.
Source: http://www.atoday.com/content/jeremiah-wright-right
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