Obama Quits Church

Sen. Obama quits his church over the weekend. I knew this decision had to be made but why do I feel such sadness that Sen. Obama was put in this place. I know what it means to do some soul searching after many years of being in a church then leave the said church. It is not a decision done with glee because after all, the local church becomes a part of your extended family. Heck, you may even have your biological family in the same church and because they are your family, they understand your decision but that doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be some grief towards the separation.

But then I wasn’t running for the President of the United States and my church wasn’t under constant media scrutiny for any Preacher’s words to be a mirror of my views. That is the craziest thing I’ve seen in this election season. All these pundits on TV, who may or may not have attended a church much less a black church have the nerve to talk about the right thing to do as a parishioner.

On any given Sunday, hundreds and sometimes thousands gather at a local church. Sometimes those parishioners take what the Preacher said that morning with a grain of salt; take what’s good, leave what’s perceived bad. Then the parishioners have various interpretations of what the sermon(s) was all about. Some of these pundits should listen to some debates at Sunday dinner about what the Pastor said, and you would find many agreeing or disagreeing with the sermon of that day. But that wouldn’t stop them from going to Church the next Sunday.

So for folks who wondered why Sen. Obama could stay in a church like Trinity for 20 plus years. First, let me remind you that such interloped sermons played repeatedly on YouTube would not be what he listened to every week. Actually, those kinds of sermons are seldom preached and when they are, it is to address an issue.

I remember once when a former Pastor was so angry about the political situation in favor of another race in my state and for about five minutes he called out the so-called politicians who only appear in Church to get the “black vote” but would not vote their conscience when it came to what was morally right. I remembered I (as well many of the congregation) was stunned that the Pastor went “there.” At that time, I’ve been in the church for about two years and nothing of such political tone was preached.

Suppose I wanted to run for an office (not gonna happen but hypothetically) and the media got hold of such sermon, and I was a candidate of hope but such sermon showed despair and outrage for the authorities behavior. What do you think is going to happen? I may try to explain all I want but some folks would put such stigma on me for that message even if I don’t hold such views.

Tags: Barack Obama