Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Village minister defends Wright
By Rachel Smith
Washington Square News (NYU)
03/25/2008

(U-WIRE) NEW YORK — When video clips of Rev. Jeremiah Wright saying "God damn America" in a 2003 sermon surfaced, the pundits and the public were accordingly shocked — Wright has served as head pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago and has been Sen. Barack Obama's personal spiritual mentor for more than 20 years.

But Donna Schaper doesn't think Rev. Wright did anything wrong.

Schaper, like Wright, is a prominent minister leading a large, urban congregation; she is the senior minister at Judson Memorial Church, the historically political parish on the south side of Washington Square Park.

And, like Wright, her sermons have gotten her into some hot water.

"It goes with the territory," Schaper said with a chuckle, remembering when parishioners walked out upon hearing her opinions about the Free Trade Area of the Americas, a proposal to eliminate or reduce trade barriers among all countries in the Americas.

But that doesn't mean that she, Wright or any other preacher should be punished or censored from saying what they feel, she said.

"Freedom of the pulpit is a fundamental tenet in the UCC," Schaper said, referring to the United Church of Christ, the denomination to which Trinity and Judson belong.

Schaper also pointed out that Wright's sermons have been misinterpreted by many as inflammatory when, in reality, they are keeping with the style of black preaching.

"The kind of preaching he does is very emotional," she said. "What I think is being misunderstood in this debate is that is what black worship is like; it is very emotional."

Schaper explained that the idea behind Wright's now-famous "God damn America" line is not original to Wright, but rather supported biblically.

"God damns people when they get too parochial. God curses people, God punishes people in much of scripture," she said. "There is nothing outside of scripture that is saying that a country like the United States that became too prideful wouldn't be damned for that pride."

But even if the Bible supports Wright's words, it can't help slipping poll numbers.

John Thomas, the president of the UCC, said in a statement during the controversy, "Those who sifted through hours of sermons searching for a few lurid phrases and those who have aired them repeatedly have only one intention: It is to wound a presidential candidate."

And they have.

According to a March 18 CBS poll, 30 percent of likely voters who have heard about Rev. Wright's statements said it made them "less favorable" toward Obama, despite the senator's speech given in Philadelphia days after the controversy broke.

"I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Rev. Wright that have caused such controversy," Obama said.

He added: "I confess that if all that I knew of Rev. Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and YouTube... there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way."

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