I had a great deal of compassion for Jeremiah Wright, since Monster and the media have tried so hard to destroy him; and Obama by way of him. Now? I just wish he’d shut the fuck up.
He is currently on a press tour, alternately denouncing Obama, and reiterating some of the shit he was saying before, that he claimed was taken out of context. He has now re-contextualized it, and made a blithering fool of himself and everyone who supported him, in the process.
Names4things does not now, nor ever has liked a screaming preacher. Names4things Jr was once exposed to this screaming/preaching phenomenon, when she was very young. She asked me why they were “gossiping about God so loud”, which made N4T love her even more, as if that were possible.
Also, since women are the backbone, heart, and soul of the church, all that misogyny and dickcentricity makes no sense. None. Gospel, which can be some incredibly beautiful music, would not exist in its current form, without the enormous gay influence of so many choir directors, composers, and singers. Neither of these truths has manifested in any significant lessening of the massive misogyny and homophobia still vomiting from the pulpits.
This was not always the case. The church used to be about fellowship and service. Life was too hard to worry about who was fucking who how. Now it’s all about what’s in your underwear, what you’re doing with it, how manly God is, and here you go: how Godly man is. Followed by that infamous con that God will help you if you pay me thing, the ’service’ becomes one where parishioners get pimped, lied to and about, and finally undermined, if your bits are innies instead of outies.
It wasn’t always like this. Really. Sure, God has been conceived as a dick-having entity for almost ever, by those seeking the nature of God’s junk; but that’s just the slippery slope of lazily allowing intermediaries to interpret your creation myths for you.
In opposition to this approach, Adam Clayton Powell Sr, father of the legendary Congressman, was the child of slaves. He went on to build Harlem’s famous Abyssinia Baptist Church, and was instrumental in forming both the Urban league and the NAACP. He helped feed, house, clothe, and educate countless Harlem residents, and died the year Names4things was born. If we are to know him by his fruit, he considered the well-being of others a lot. Again, N4T is not learned on any or all things Adam Clayton Powell Senior. But his traces, what he left of himself, would lead one to believe he lived not only an accomplished life, but one in service to others.
This seems to be what goes missing first, when a prayerful group gets together officially, and incorporates in the name of God. It quickly becomes more about the dickery of the leaders and the shit they can acquire, than the very people who comprise the group dynamic. This is true of the white church too, as evidenced by Hagee, a monstrous preacher in McCain’s corner; and The Fellowship, which is Clinton’s Gorillas for God group.
Let’s look at the current pastor of Abyssinia, Reverend Calvin Butts. He has supported politicians whose views were extremely inimical to the community, presumably in exchange for filling his pockets and/or buying his flock’s votes. Abyssinia is also involved in a number of real estate developments, many which seem malodorous, at the very least. But the fact that Reverend Butts drives a fucking Bentley, is in a nutshell, what is most wrong with The Church of today. The hypocrisy is breathtaking. But does the money-grubbing and egotism actually suffocate any good that decent parishioners attempt to drag through the labyrinths of self-aggrandizement and greed, perpetuated by pastors like Butts? Typically, yes.
Not belonging to any religious corporations is easy, and a position Names4things has held for a long time. But watching the egomaniacal Wright try to make Monster’s shit-flinging stick– and to a man who refused to throw his screeching ass under a bus– is hard. It’s not just sad, it’s all too predictable in too much church. If you think this is a black phenomenon, Monster’s membership in the primarily rethuglican Fellowship is royally fucked up, with more than a scary soupçon of global domination in its liturgy (!).
So, this thing that Jeremiah Wright is doing, while not uncommon, is personal, and even embarrassing. He has to have something better to do with his time and his name, than to slander those who stood up for him. He just hasn’t figured out how to not take advantage of some negative attention, and of those who had the audacity to respect him and his right to his views. Trinity Church is currently building a 10,340 square foot house for him, at a cost of more than one and a half million dollars. Yeah, it’s in a wealthy white neighborhood, but there’s nothing wrong with that– unless your church is in an impoverished black neighborhood. Yeah, his congregation is paying for it, but I got this one. It isn’t the sweet setup most would envy. You see, 6,660 feet of it are needed just to house his ego. That leaves only 3,680 feet left for the balls on that guy.
I couldn’t agree more. Great post.