Chicago congregation has ‘non-negotiable commitment’ to ‘mother continent’
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2838
By Ron Strom
WorldNetDaily.com
While some election commentators are looking carefully at the level of devotion Sen. Barack Obama has to http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2868, it is the strong African-centered and race-based philosophy of the senator’s United Church of Christ that has some bloggers crying foul.
Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago is where Obama was baptized as a Christian two decades ago, even borrowing the title for one of his books, “The Audacity of Hope,” from a sermon by his senior pastor, the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.
The first paragraph of the “About Us” section of the church’s website mentions the word “black” or “Africa” five times: “We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian. … Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain “true to our native land,” the mother continent, the cradle of civilization. God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism. It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community.”
Focus on the African continent continues in two of the 10-point vision of the church:
A congregation committed to ADORATION.
A congregation preaching SALVATION.
A congregation actively seeking RECONCILIATION.
A congregation with a non-negotiable COMMITMENT TO AFRICA.
A congregation committed to BIBLICAL EDUCATION.
A congregation committed to CULTURAL EDUCATION.
A congregation committed to the HISTORICAL EDUCATION OF AFRICAN PEOPLE IN DIASPORA.
A congregation committed to LIBERATION.
A congregation committed to RESTORATION.
A congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY.
Commented Florida blogger “Ric” in discussing vision No. 4: “Commitment to Africa? I thought Christians were to have a commitment to God alone?”
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59600