March 2008

American Baptist Church Leaders, Head of United Church of Christ
Speak Out for Dr. Jeremiah Wright Jr.

The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. is the retired pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago where presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama is a long-term member. Dr. Wright is also a Judson Press author. Among other works, he has published From One Brother to Another: Voices of African American Men, Volume 2, What Makes You So Strong?—Sermons of Joy and Strength and Good News!—Sermons of Hope for Today's Families. He was the keynote speaker for a major Evangelism Convocation that American Baptist Churches National Ministries held at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. in 1992. He is a founder of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, an ecumenical forum and working group of prophetic African American church clergy and lay leaders, of which I am a member.

Dr. Wright has been vilified in the media in recent weeks for seemingly vitriolic sound bites extracted from three or four sermons and then rotated non-stop on cable and television outlets that uninformed commentators and talk show hosts deem un-American, non-patriotic and anti-Christian. Their caricature is not the Jeremiah Wright that I have been acquainted with for twenty-five years of my ministry. More importantly, the media assault on Rev. Wright, while attempting to undermine the candidacy of presidential contender Barak Obama, is an outright attack on the progressive religious tradition of the black church in America to which the vast majority of African American American Baptist Churches belong.

Please see the attached letters, reflections and articles regarding Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. from three African American American Baptist pastoral leaders. In addition, please review the analysis of the Rev. John H. Thomas, the general minister and president of the United Church of Christ. My hope in sharing these reflections is to contribute to our ongoing interracial and intercultural dialogues among American Baptists as the most pluralistic mainline denomination in America and to introduce to some and highlight for others the prophetic/liberationist tradition of a significant number of our members.

The Rev. Dr. Marvin McMickle is the pastor of the Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, and the author of close to a dozen books, eight of which are published by Judson Press. Read his letter to the editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

The Rev. Dr. Samuel Berry McKinney is the former pastor and now pastor emeritus of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Seattle, Washington. He, along with the late Dr. Floyd Massey are the authors of Church Administration in the Black Perspective, published by Judson Press. Read his article "Not On My Watch!"

The Rev. Dr. Wayne Croft is the pastor of Church of the Redeemer Baptist in South Philadelphia. He also serves as associate professor of homiletics and liturgics at Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University in Philadelphia. Read his article "Wright or Wrong?"

With living hope,

Executive Director, National Ministries