NY Times: Obama speech on race fuels Easter sermons RAW STORY

Published: Saturday March 22, 2008



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Print This Email This Senator Barack Obama's speech on race is fueling Easter sermons, according to an article in Sunday's New York Times. "This Easter Sunday, the holiest day of the Christian calendar, many pastors will start their sermons about the Resurrection of Jesus and weave in a pointed message about racism and bigotry, and the need to rise above them," Laurie Goodstein and Neela Banerjee write for the Sunday Times. "Some pastors began to rethink their sermons on Tuesday, when Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., gave a speech about race, seeking to calm a furor that had erupted over explosive excerpts of sermons by his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr." Some pastors tell the paper that "they felt compelled to talk about it," because "[t]heir congregants were writing and e-mailing them: Some wanted to share their emotional reactions to Obama's speech; others asked how Wright, the minister, could utter such inflammatory things from the pulpit." However, the paper notes, other "ministers interviewed over the last several days said they would wait until after Easter to preach on it, because Easter and headlines do not mix. But others said there was no better moment than Easter, when sanctuaries swelled with their biggest crowds of the year, and redemption was the dominant theme." "Many ministers said they would preach without explicitly mentioning Obama because they wanted to avoid alienating politically diverse congregations," the article continues. "They are also aware that some churches accused of making political endorsements have seen their tax-exempt status investigated by the Internal Revenue Service." FULL NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE CAN BE READ AT THIS LINK

