[DaveyB]

Do white right-wing preachers have it easier than black left-wing preachers? Is there a double standard?

There is only one absolute standard and that is God's word.

[wardaddy]

Robertson’s lamenting that Americans sinfulness has cost us God’s protection is quite different than Wright declaring America created AIDs to kill blacks, introduced crack to the hood, and was mean and nasty to Muslims and thus deserved Al Quaeda...not to mention his Jew hatred and cozying up to Farahkan.

[eggman]

But if there was a moment of courage in this drama, it was not Obama's condemnation of Wright but his earlier and now much-criticized effort to avoid a complete break with his unapologetic pastor.

E.J. Dionne proves there is a double standard when it comes to a black politician standing by the person making the ridiculous and sometimes shameful statements. He thinks it was courageous to stand by Wright after his lies about AIDS, his bigotry, and his hate filled sermons became public even though Wright never apologized or tried to explain. Only now that Wright has simply reiterated his lunacy has Obama chosen to change his tune.

Had a right-wing politician stood by someone spouting bigotry and lies on the level of Wright, I’m certain E.J. would have been calling it something other than courage.

Wright's words and the sycophants who stand by him prove the chasm of misunderstanding between the races is becoming an abyss that they are all to willing to throw taxpayer money and their future generations into. Obama's campaign of change has been revealed as more of the same.

[dennisw]

Bailey Smith, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson were never the pastor for 20 years of any Republican candidate. EJ Dionne’s comparisons are absurd

One false move and right wing preachers get killed by the MSM and same for a Republican associated with them, however tenuously. But just watch them spin for crazy ol Reverend Wright who is out of a really bad Sanford and Son episode

[OeOeO]

In light of this racial gap, it's worth pondering why white, right-wing preachers who make ridiculous and sometimes shameful statements usually emerge with their influence intact.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

[Timeout]

Towards the end Dione writes:

The Rev. William Danaher, a professor at the General Theological Seminary here, argued that left-wing preachers who are black draw more fire because their critique of American society tends to be more fundamental.

"The left black preacher is challenging the social structures that everyone lives in," Danaher said. "The white preachers on the right don't challenge these structures. Instead, they talk about issues of personal morality and individual behavior."

Er. "Personal morality and individual behavior"...isn't that what we EXPECT a preacher to preach about?! This is where Dione's argument goes off the rails. Wright's message is just the opposite: personal failure is OK because it's society's fault. And note that we never hear Wright describe Christ as his Savior (not his liberator). Wright's preaching seems to be nothing more than a big ole meeting of the nutroots which happens to be in a building called a "church".

While I'm here: what the heck has gotten into John Danforth? I really admired him when he was escorting Clarence Thomas through his confirmation and heading first President Bush's VP search team. But since leaving Congress he seems to be waging his own personal war on the "religious right".

[joebuck]

"The catalogue goes back to Bailey Smith, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Speaking at a 1980 religious convention that was also addressed by Ronald Reagan, Smith declared that "God Almighty does not hear the prayer of a Jew."

That's pretty much standard New Testament dogma and goes back to the words of Jesus himself.