Tonight, Michele Obama speaks out, for the first time, since yesterday’s press conference during which her husband criticized Rev. Wright. She talks about the controversy, how her husband finally put the hammer down, race and the possibility of Hillary Clinton as a running mate.
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Martin E. Marty
University of Chicago divinity professor, columnist, editor
Editor's Note: Marty issued the following statement this evening.
To all those who have inquired, responded, or asked for comment or interviews:
I am “on the road” this week and regrettably cannot respond personally to the numerous e-mails I have received regarding Pastor Jeremiah Wright.
Earlier this month The Chronicle (of Higher Education) Review and a local TV program asked me to appraise Wright’s role and achievement as pastor of Trinity Church. I attempted to put his pastoral and “preacherly” work into congregational perspective. The article was widely circulated and remains available on the web.
In the past week, however, what in the article I called Pastor Wright’s “abrasive—to say the least!-edges” have completely dominated his public comments. In them he aggressively defended the very items that I had called “abhorrent and indefensible” as well as “distracting and harmful.”
In the new circumstances, I will have nothing more to add, since the new context is entirely political and not churchly. Those who read me in my five weekly or biweekly outlets know that I make it a practice in them not to mention candidates and candidacies for public office, as an interpretation of my vocation in “civic pedagogy,” not partisan expression.
Erica Hill
360° Correspondent
Many of you have asked about the boys of the Yearning for Zion ranch in El Dorado, TX. Where are they? Is there concern some of the boys in this polygamous sect may have been abused? Today, some answers on that front. Investigators are now looking into the possible sexual abuse of some young boys from the YFZ ranch.
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An inspiring story of survivial and renewal. Christian Amanpour takes us back to Sarajevo. I think the video and the story really speak for themselves – it’s worth watching.
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In India, a frightening reminder of times past…
FULL POST
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/04/30/art.wright2.jpg%5D
Editor's note: Eboo Patel is founder and executive director of Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based nonprofit that promotes interfaith cooperation. He adapted this from his On Faith blog posted by The Washington Post:
Ebo Patel
Author, Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation.
I discovered in the African American tradition – the poetry of Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks, the novels of Toni Morrison and Ralph Ellison, the scholarship of Cornel West and Henry Louis Gates, the sermons of Martin Luther King and, yes, Jeremiah Wright - a way of being that gave an honored place to my heritage as an Indian and a Muslim, and an invitation to bring those parts of me to the American project, which is fundamentally about people from the four corners of the earth building a nation together.
When I first moved back to Chicago in late 2001 to start the Interfaith Youth Core, it seemed like I heard Jeremiah Wright’s name mentioned every place I turned. All kinds of people –rich folk and poor folk, traditionalists and progressives, young people and old people, black and white, believers and atheists – told me I had to go see him preach.
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Morning folks...
Well, I will say again...there is NEVER a dull moment on the campaign trail...Barack Obama came out yesterday to publically divorce himself from the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. It seems EVERY single political headline in EVERY single major paper across the country is talking about the event...take a look...
LA TIMES: Obama 'Outraged' by Wright...Barack Obama angrily disowned his former pastor and friend of 20 years, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., saying Tuesday that Wright's recent comments about race, religion and the U.S. government were "divisive and destructive" and had undermined the purpose of Obama's presidential candidacy.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Obama 'Outraged' by Wright...Obama, appearing pained, did in a hastily called news conference what he had been reluctant to do since controversy erupted six weeks ago over Wright's sermons, repudiating not merely the words but the worldview of a clergyman who had once been a close spiritual counselor and by Obama's account inspired him to embrace Christian faith
WASHINGTON POST: Obama calls ministers comments 'outrageous'...Laboring to contain damage to his presidential candidacy, Obama said Wright's recent appearances had left him angry and sad.
WASHINGTON TIMES: Obama 'Outraged,' 'Insulted' By Pastor...Sen. Barack Obama yesterday broke with the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., saying he was "outraged" and "insulted" by his former pastor's racial and anti-government rants — rhetoric he said he did not hear the pastor use in church.
USA TODAY: Obama Breaks with Longtime Pastor...Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama severed ties Tuesday with Jeremiah Wright, decrying his longtime minister's latest remarks as "a bunch of rants that aren't grounded in the truth." "I want to be very clear that moving forward, Reverend Wright does not speak for me.
NY TIMES: Obama Breaks With Ex-pastor...Senator Barack Obama broke forcefully on Tuesday with his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., in an effort to curtail a drama of race, values, patriotism and betrayal that has enveloped his presidential candidacy at a critical juncture.
Suzanne Malveaux will monitor the campaign trail for us tonight..both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will be in Indiana today...we will bring the latest on the issues they are talking about AND, of course, the "Wright Fallout' should there be any more..
Susan Roesgen will take us inside Obama's Church in Chicago...Yes, the the place where Rev Wright preached from the pulpit...Is this a house divided? Are parishoners siding with Obama or the Reverend Wright? We will see...
ALSO, Soledad O'Brien takes a look at a study conducted by Roland Fryer of Harvard University. He studied 10,000 9 month old babies-he saw NO INNATE differences between black and white kids for the first 3 years...BUT by age 3 differences appeared...
AND Arianna Huffington joins us tonight to talk about her new book: Right Is Wrong, How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe... We will talk about her book and get her take on all the political happenings....
FINALLY...Joe Johns is Keeping Them Honest on a very expensive stretch of road in Florida...COCONUT ROAD... that Alaska Congressman Don Young got money for... Kinda makes you wonder, what's a congressman from Alaska trying to get money for the sunshine state? Yup, you guessed it...IT'S ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE INFAMOUS EARMARKS- TEN MILLION DOLLARS to be exact...BUT how he got the money...just may have him in hot water with the Justice Department. We are Keeping HIM honest...
It is still early, so who knnows what the day will bring...