IPC Condemns Recent Attacks on the Black Church

Criticism Denies Historical and Current Role of Black Church as Central to the Spiritual, Political, and Social Life of the Community

Washington DC January 21, 2008 On this Martin Luther King Day observance, the Institute for Progressive Christianity (IPC) rejects the recent media attacks against the black church, specifically Trinity United Church of Christ, where Barack Obama attends.

Investors Business Daily's January 15th editorial decried Trinity Church for its "'unashamedly black' church that preaches the politics of black nationalism. And its dashiki-wearing preacher - who married Obama and his wife and now acts as his personal spiritual adviser - is militantly Afrocentric."

Besides insulting African Americans who value their history and culture, and those who choose to express that culture, the newspaper demonstrates themselves as ignorant as the role of the black church in African American history and its current role today. IPC Executive Director Stephen Rockwell states "the black church has been the central organizing institution in the black community providing both spiritual nourishment and social betterment to the communities they serve. Rather than attacking black churches rooted and committed to their communities, they should be celebrated as living examples of Jesus's teachings bringing us closer to the dream of making Earth as it is in heaven."

Furthermore, holding Sen. Obama to account for his minister's view and thoughts is an abridgement of the separation between church and state. IPC Advisory Board member, Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou states, "In a democracy, the fundamental right to religious freedom is essential. To make a religious test that fits the wants and desires of a certain group imposes on democracy. To challenge Trinity United Church of Christ's theology and Barack Obama's attendance to the church is a challenge to the first amendment. Shame. Shame. Shame."

Finally, Investor's Business Daily goes on to worry about "how much of the national agenda Africa would consume under an Obama administration. Of the six "world threats" Obama lists in stump speeches, at least half of them concern that chronically troubled Third World continent."

IPC does not overlook the overt racism of the question considering that each of the Democratic candidates have discussed global poverty with a particular emphasis on AIDS and other human crises in Africa. However, IPC strongly believes that poverty, AIDS, and malnutrition on the Africa content should be of paramount concern to our next President. IPC Board Chair Kety Esquivel states, "Rather than pre-emptive and endless war, our next President must fully address the challenges of poverty and disease in Africa and throughout the developing world. As Rev. King said, 'Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.'"

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a product of and leader in the black church and on this day of remembrance, IPC commemorates not only King's legacy but the proud history of the black church as beacon for social justice and an embodiment of Jesus's love for humanity.



About The Institute for Progressive Christianity

We are Progressive
We are progressive in that we desire to promote: the Love of God, Neighbor and Self; Compassion; Justice; and the Common Good.


We are Christian
We are an ecumenical group of Christians of different theological orientations: Liberal, Mainline Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and Evangelical. We believe in being in community that maintains unity while acknowledging and supporting our diversity. We are united in our conviction that our progressive values flow directly from our understanding of the message and example of Jesus.


We are an Institute
We have faith that we can positively confront the ills of this world with a progressive Christian witness that is coherent, convicted, intelligent, and passionate. In a spirit of being affirmative, we believe that engaging society's questions should be done transparently and authentically from a reasoned yet inspired place of substance. We research, analyze, and discuss the issues with an eye to welcoming other people into a dialogue where we can encourage and provoke each other to fulfill our destinies as unique but interdependent reflections of the Creator.

Contact Information:

Institute for Progressive Christianity
Stephen Rockwell
Executive Director
email: srockwell@instituteforprogressivechristianity.org
phone: 215-317-1865

The Institute for Progressive Christianity
Kety Esquivel
Chair
email: kety.esquivel@gmail.com
phone: 415-568-8002

This press release was sent on the Institute for Progressive Christianity's Progressive Faith Newswire.