Barack Obama's former minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, is facing personal threats because of remarks he made from the pulpit. Churches in Florida and Texas have canceled speaking engagements over safety concerns for Rev. Wright, his family and the churches themselves.
Thank God, Rev. Wright didn't try saying in church what his prominent white conservative counterparts routinely shout in public.
For example, there is the snippet of Wright saying that minorities should not sing God bless America but instead "God damn America . . ."
Wright better be glad he didn't suggest concrete action such as:
"Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom [in Washington, D.C.] to shake things up."
But for advocating on television that the U.S. State Department be bombed Pat Robertson didn't have to cancel any speaking engagements for fear that the host church would be blown up by liberal extremists.
Imagine the reaction if Rev. Wright openly revealed no major qualms with a terrorist bombing a federal building and said:
"My only regret with [the murdering terrorist] is he did not go to the New York Times Building."
But Fox News doesn't excoriate Ann Coulter like Rev. Wright. Instead, the vitriolic Coulter is a cherished guest at Fox News despite her only regret with Timothy McVeigh being that he didn't hit the alleged bastion of the liberal media.
Full of hate, they say, the Rev. Wright is toward America and white people. Well, has Rev. Wright ever said anything like:
"The strategy against the American radical left should be the same as General Douglas MacArthur employed against the Japanese in the Pacific . . . bypass their strongholds, surround them, isolate them, bombard them, then blast the individuals out of their power bunkers with hand-to-hand combat. The battle for Iwo Jima was not pleasant, but our troops won it. The battle to regain the soul of America won't be pleasant either, but we will win it."
Given the threats to his safety now, somehow I don't think Rev. Wright could dare suggest lobbing grenades or using flamethrowers against his political enemies like good old boy Pat Robertson did.
Nor would Rev. Wright likely be able to survive saying
"When I, or people like me, are running the country, you'd better flee, because we will find you, we will try you, and we'll execute you."
Of course, if you are white, anti abortion and conservative like Randall Terry, you can publicly threaten to kill doctors involved with abortion without having to worry about churches being bombed when you speak.
Rev. Wright is also condemned for saying that AIDS is a government plot against people of color. Obviously, Wright isn't aware like the late Rev. Jerry Falwell that
"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."
Not only that, but American gays and lesbians brought on 9/11.
"[The tragedy of 9/11] could be minuscule . . . if in fact God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve . . . The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this . . . throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"
So spoke Rev. Falwell on Pat Robertson's 700 Club two days after 9/11. Yet, did Falwell have to fear for his life for blaming Americans for the 9/11 attacks?
Not to any significant degree did Falwell, Robertson and their likes have to fear because of outrageous statements they made. On the other hand, Wright has to fear for his life because of statements that he made from his perspective as a black.
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