Back in June, I wrote about the idea that the church should be the moral compass of America, and it should not abdicate that position to the government.  However, between then and Election Day, I became increasingly alarmed at the incivility and the rumor mongering of the rank and file of the conservative Christian movement.  This is the largely the responsibility of the leaders of this movement even if they weren’t specifically part of the rumors about Barack Obama’s religion and birthplace.  The rank and file were simply trying to do whatever they could to defeat the people they were told would ruin the country.

Since the rise of the Christian Right starting with the Moral Majority in the 1970s through the domination of the Dobson-Robertson crowd of the 2000s, the conservative Christian movement has invested heavily in the Republican party.  That investment has not just been a monetary one.  It has also been an investment of its time and, more importantly, the majority of its votes.  This has had numerous negative effects, with relatively few positives.

Last Sunday, I heard my pastor give one of his best sermons ever.  He has recently awakened to the idea (later than most “conservative” pastors) that the church has a right and a duty to be involved in politics, with very few limitations.  However, his position seems to differ slightly from many of his fellow preachers, and his sermon last Sunday reflected that difference.  His message was that if Christians are going to hold public officials to a high standard of morality and character, then they must hold themselves to that same high standard.

“Obama’s church” is the Trinity United Church of Christ.  Trinity United Church of Christ is “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.” (from their website) Their theology is progressive but generally what most Christians would consider Biblical.  Not everyone would agree with everything they do and say, but at least they’re doing something in the name of Jesus to help rid the world of injustice and oppression, which is more than I can say for most churches I’ve been associated with in any way.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. is the senior pastor at TUCC, and he has gotten Barack Obama in trouble politically by making inflammatory statements over the last several months.  There’s no need to rehash those here.  I wrote about them back in March.  Last week, though, the last straw was a guest speaker, Catholic priest Rev.