Ministers at black churches know the power of words.
In recent weeks, the explosive words of one minister - the Rev. Jeremiah Wright - have been used to bludgeon one of his church members, Sen. Barack Obama, creating a national debate on race and religion.
Yesterday, on the holiest day of the year for Christians, black ministers used more measured language to explain Wright's incendiary sentiments while also appealing to their congregations to not be divided and distracted by political games.
"Forty years after Dr. King's death, when we should be excited about electing the first African-American or first woman president of the United States, the politics of race and religion are being used to divide us again and destroy a great opportunity to rebuild America," the Rev. Frank M. Reid III said yesterday morning at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in West Baltimore.
In a stirring sermon before a congregation gathered in its Easter finery, Reid said, "It's not about Jeremiah Wright. It's about taking our eyes off the prize. What is the prize? A better America for all of us. What is the prize? A nation in which no child has to go to bed hungry at night. What is the prize? A nation where every child can go to school and learn to read and write and be successful."
The crowd, which included Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon and Comptroller Joan M. Pratt, was on its feet by then, applauding and offering "Amens" to Reid's words. The pastor said that today he would send a letter to top elected officials in the city and state, as well as leaders of schools and universities, asking them to help him organize "a conversation on race that will make a difference."
"It can't only be held in the pews," Reid said. "It needs to be held in the schools and colleges and public spaces."
The controversy surrounding Obama and his minister ignited this month, when video clips of Wright making anti-American statements appeared online. "God damn America!" he said in one sermon, and in another suggested the Sept. 11 attacks were warranted, saying of the attacks, "America's chickens are coming home to roost."
Obama denounced those statements and others made by his minister, and on Tuesday he delivered a well-received speech on race that was quoted from the pulpit yesterday. Churches, as nonprofit organizations, cannot endorse political candidates. But ministers had words of praise yesterday for how forthrightly Obama addressed race.
