UCCtruths

In the same week that the United Church of Christ announced that Barack Obama is going to speak at the UCC's General Synod in June, a number of gay newspapers including The Advocate and The Washington Blade, are running a syndicated column that is highly critical of the Presidential candidate and his UCC minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. From the column by the Rev. Irene Monroe:

IF OBAMA IS indeed using religion to win votes, he unfortunately placed himself in a difficult quagmire — not only with LGBTQ voters, but also with religious liberals. He worships in a conservative black church within a liberal denomination.

In July 2005, the UCC General Synod overwhelmingly passed a Resolution of Marriage Equality. But in August 2005, Obama’s pastor and inspiration for the title of his recent memoir “The Audacity of Hope,” Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, spoke against the Synod’s position.

“While our denomination grappled with how to address that human problem, the denomination also, at that Synod, voted to ordain a homosexual. Guess which item made the newspapers? Maybe I missed something!”

And in his closing tirades on gay issues, Wright stated: “Are 44 million Americans with no health care insurance less important than ‘gay marriage’? Why aren’t black Christians in an uproar about that? Maybe I am missing something!”

It was disheartening for many of us to learn that Pastor Wright broke ranks with his liberal denomination to stand in solidarity with a more conservative black church position.

Obama and Wright have also been heavily criticized by conservative pundits because of Wright's "theology that is racially exclusive".

Monroe's criticism of Obama and Wright, however, will likely not disenfranchise the "religious liberal" vote. In the same way that "religious conservatives" will pragmatically vote for Rudy Giuliani, "religious liberals" will still turn out for Obama.