In the view of one writer, "You can commit blasphemy against a monarchy where the state is believed to be an extension of God’s will. You can (my emphasis) blaspheme against a theocracy where the state is a physical manifestation of God’s will. You can not possibly blaspheme against a liberal democracy where government is a profane extension of the will of the people." That is, not unless the people forget the price their ancestors paid for religious freedom and allow false prophets and demagogues to set up shop in their government assemblies and legislative offices and turn this republic into a theocracy of their own design.

There is a lot being said about religion these days. It seems black folk’s religion has gotten white pundits a’ scratchin’ their heads in confusion. Seems the darkies done up and jumped off the plantation without Massa’s children noticing until it was too late.

Many whites are publicly opining confusion that black folk have a different view of the world, a view which, to them, appears ‘ungrateful’ and even ‘blasphemous’, a view which reflects ungratefulness for schools which continue to mis-educate black youth, a world where black people denounce an injustice system which metes out harsher punishment for black miscreants, a world where financial, educational, economic and judicial systems seem hell bent on viewing blacks as human fodder rather than citizens with rights and responsibilities.

In the world which the pundits proclaim, Blacks are ungrateful and should be satisfied with the success of the few, who have jumped the plantation to become successfully middle class. While millions vegetate in the nation’s ghettoes, angry, disenfranchised and disconnected from so-called mainstream America, the nation’s media mavens proclaim them ungrateful, slothful and sinful. One thing is for certain, the fact that there are "Two Americas" is not something dreamed up by one of today’s wild eyed black radicals– in or out of the pulpit.

The Civil Rights Movement was born in the pulpit, nurtured in the pulpit, sanctified by the sweat and sacrifices of black ministers, church members and school children, who endured beatings, imprisonment and even death. All of this to shame America into living up to the promise of the Constitution and the mandate of Jesus’ just Christianity.

The Kerner Report of more than 40 years ago investigated the reasons for the deadly riots of the late 60’s and found race-based inequities in this country fueled such massive rage in the nation’s inner cities that the anger exploded in urban outbursts of violence and rage, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage and thousands of injuries and deaths.

And, even then, there were those who donned Klan robes on Saturday, burning, lynching, and terrorizing blacks, and then went to church on Sunday proclaiming to "love the Lord." In some communities the same people who led prayer from the pulpit were often part of the Klan raids earlier in the week.

Today, middle class white America pretends to be confused that the black pulpit remains a venue for expressing anger, disappointment and rage over ongoing injustice in the United States. Headlines continue to fuel a media lynching of Rev. Jeremiah Wright over his passionate denouncement of ongoing race-based injustice in the nation—a classic case of beating on the messenger who delivers bad news.

While others who don’t share his skin color have long said the nation is damned for a variety of "sins"—homosexuality, acceptance of promiscuity, the prevalence of pornography and "godlessness"–and even Civil Rights, a few disingenuous politicians and pundits are trying to throw a mantle of blame over Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama over the sermonizing of his pastor. In their comfortable world, Civil Rights are a done deed and anyone who claims differently is a radical extremist–even those living with real injustice on a daily basis.

That the Senator refuses to disavow Reverend Wright is being used as an obvious ploy to paint the Senator as somehow being "ungodly", "unpatriotic," "foreign," or all three. In actuality, all it proves is that there are still some black ministers who refuse to preach the false religion of comfort, privilege, acquiescence and victimization.

Indeed, the Tar Baby manufacturers have been busy churning out anti-Obama materials, dropping traps in his path and fomenting falsehoods faster than a roach can lay eggs. Much to their dismay, the Senator has so far proven his political dexterity by stepping around most of the traps and going on about his business.

They have already tried to paint the man as a Muslim religious extremist—because he attended a ‘religious school’ as a child in Indonesia. When that tar baby failed to stick, they reached into their trick bag and pulled out another—that he goes to a "black extremist church".

Apparently blacks who are proud of ancestral history and don’t hold their heads down in ‘disappointment’ of their black skins are somehow viewed as threatening to some whites today. Being proud of being black, celebrating one’s black ancestry is being equated with racial hatred, by people who are so limited that they don’t understand that a person can be proud of his own heritage without disrespecting or denigrating the culture, beliefs, religion and race of others.

Respect for black heritage, by blacks is a far cry from disrespecting those who do not share the same heritage. Yet, it seems that once African-Americans shed the mantle of victimhood, and proclaim pride in self and heritage, we are accused of being "racist."

At the heart of all of this pseudo-crisis is control—control of religion, control of economy, and continuing subjection of the African American as a culture. This is a trial baloon for government control of the pulpit--particularly the pulpits in communities of "non-favored minorities.

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