I am posting here, an expanded version of an e-mail I sent to MSNBC's Verdict with Dan Abrams.
I had just recently become a stay at home mom when the events of 9/11 occurred. As such, I was home to watch Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations in defense of a United States preemptive strike on Iraq. I came away believing that either the United States did not have any real evidence of weapons of mass destruction or our intelligence community had not given that evidence to Colin Powell. I felt the German line of questioning was strong and valid and that the French had a point. We should not go into Iraq. I spoke with one retired gentleman, in our area. He had also watched Colin Powell's presentation. His verdict was that Iraq was processing milk and making ice cream as the Germans and French suggested. I watched, that evening, as the pundits in the main stream media presented only one side of the story on the evening news. In the case of NBC, exaggerating the evidence and in the case of FOX news, exaggerating the evidence even more. I was mortified.
I went to church that Sunday to hear a twenty-minute sermon on how we should support our leaders if and when they chose to invade Iraq. I heard our minister read a letter from our bishop on how invading Iraq was wrong adding that he disagreed with our bishop. His view, not our bishop's, dominated his sermon. This went on for weeks. At one point, he prayed for the safe return of our brave soldiers fighting a JUST war in Iraq. JUST war? My point is, I disagreed with what he said. I felt he went overboard in most, if not all, of his statements. There were others, I knew, who disagreed with the turn his sermons had taken. I remained a member of the congregation through it all. I am still a member of the congregation. It's a good church with good people and a good mission. They do good works in a good community. They feed the hungry and house the homeless. They do all of this under his guidance. The pastor remains my spiritual advisor, as he should. A church is much more than its pastor.
The mainstream media is off base with their insistence that Barack Obama explain his membership in his church. A church is more than a person. A church is their entire membership. A church is the body of their collective work. A Christian church is Christ.
Hillary Clinton was right when she initially left this issue alone. She was wrong in her statement that we choose our pastor. We do not choose our pastor. We choose our church.
A good pastor does not reflect your thoughts back to you. He, or she, presents one side of a story and makes you think. My pastor, in the run up to the Iraq war, took a common position to the extreme. Pastor Wright, in the aftermath of 9/11 answered a question I heard many people ask in private, why, and answered that question to the extreme.
Tell me this ... Are you a Roman Catholic? If so, your priest is probably pro-life. Rudy Giuliani is a pro-choice Roman Catholic. Are you? Are you an evangelical Christian? If so, your pastor supposedly believes in a literal interpretation of the bible. Are you a creationist or do you believe in evolution? The Clintons are Baptist as is Mike Huckabee. Mike Huckabee is a creationist. I do not believe the Clintons are not creationists. Can any of us expect a person's spiritual leader to reflect their non-spiritual beliefs, let alone define them? My answer is no. How about yours?
The context of even one of Jeremiah Wright's sermons is not relevant to this election. Jeremiah Wright does not speak for Barack Obama any more than my pastor speaks for me. Jeremiah Wright is not running for office. Barack Obama is.
On a lighter note, my nine-year old son thinks we should settle this primary with a serious round of paint-ball. Just take a minute and picture the battle. Have a good laugh.