Dear Mr. Moran,
This is my first time commenting on a post at your blog. I am a fan of your site and visit it often. Although I don’t always agree with your thesis, I admire your writing and your rhetorical style; thoughtful, as well as expressive, discourse is hard to come by when discussing the items you choose to write about.
We do agree on the potential for Rev. Wright to do harm to the progress made, regarding universal civil rights, in our country over the last forty years. Watching his address to the Detroit chapter of the NAACP was literally torturous. I was stupefied as his eugenic argument began to unfold; didn’t we put this fallacy to rest a long time ago?!?!
That an educated man like Jeremiah Wright could believe this bunko is truly astonishing. Sadly, there are other fallacious notions that he continues to profess as truths, in part to affirm his own worldview, for a variety of psychological reasons. We all have gotten a taste of these notions over the last few days. What is perhaps the most egregious though is that he had a regular bully pulpit to disseminate these prejudicial myths to folks who didn’t all enjoy the level of education that the Reverend did. And, by virtue of his clergy status, Rev. Wright also benefited from an implicit moral authority that automatically validated his twisted beliefs.
Reverend Wright is not the only, the first, nor even the most strident, self proclaimed man of God to promote division and rancor instead of love, oneness, forgiveness, and acceptance. If you believe the Bible then you know that there is a special place in hell for those who lead people astray in the name of God; he’ll spend eternity with the preacher Klansmen, famous inquisitors, and unrepentant child molesting priests.
Even if one takes a more secular view on life it must still be apparent that there is no room in modern society for ideological dinosaurs like Jeremiah Wright. As long as discourse is divided along black and white sentiments we will never get past old animosities and, as a previous commenter said, will leave no room in that discussion for any other groups that arise in our country. One of the fundamental pillars of our nation is that fact that all people are equal. As long as we tolerate suspicious, divisive, and racist attitudes-this time under the auspices of religion and the false notion of multiculturalism-we’ll never achieve the truly color blind society that Dr. King envisioned.
Our nation faces special challenges in the modern world that are political, moral, environmental, and economic. In this crucial time, much like during the Second World War, it will take all of us working together in order to retain all that we have worked so hard for over the past three centuries. The solutions for all of these problems lie in the kernel of our national character; American ingenuity and invention born of individuality and the divergent thought processes that true diversity fosters. I also have faith that this common purpose of confronting these issues will help restore our notions of the greatness of our nation, the opportunities it presents to us collectively, and the unique bond we share as a society.
All the Best,
Keep up the good work…….
