Obama Quits Church

Stung by yet another racist outburst by one of his own spiritual advisors, Father Michael Pfleger, at his Trinity Church of Christ this past week, Sen. Barack Obama did today what he earlier said he would not do--he resigned as a member of the church. Recall that Obama originally refused to disavow the church's former minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. As he explained at the time:

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

We know now that Wright became even too much for Obama to handle and he finally disavowed Wright, claiming he had never been a spiritual advisor to him. Explaining his confidence in Wright's replacement at his church and why he would remain a member of the church, Obama said:

Well, you know, the new pastor — the young pastor, Reverend Otis Moss, is a wonderful young pastor.

And as I said, I still very much value the Trinity community.

This — I’ll be honest, this obviously has put strains on that relationship, not because of the members or because of Reverend Moss but because this has become such a spectacle.

Obama is supposed to offer a further explanation of his decision to quit the Trinity Church of Christ later this evening. Who will he have to throw overboard next? His wife? Perhaps. Larry Johnson says there will be big news on the purported "whitey" rant video of Michelle Obama from the pulpit at Trinity Church of Christ. "Now I know why people who have seen the videotape say it is stunning," Johnson writes. "Barack’s headaches are only starting."

UPDATE: Obama said in a press conference in Aberdeen, South Dakota that he and his wife have been contemplating withdrawing as members of Trinity Church of Christ since Wright spoke to the National Press Club and reunited the controversy over his church ties. He said he and his wife discussed it with Rev. Moss, prayed on it and came to the conclusion "with sadness" that it was in the best interest of both his family and the church to leave the church. He cited public scrutiny of the church as becoming a big burden for the church and its members to endure. Obama says he never saw it coming in terms of how big of an issue his church has become in this campaign. Yet, he clearly concluded when he started his campaign that Rev. Wright was too controversial as evidenced by his decision to disinvite him to his announcement speech in Springfield, Illinois. When asked if he was denouncing the church, Obama said no because the church was not "worthy of denouncing". Obama rejected a reporter's suggestion that he only joined the church nearly 20 years ago for political connections. He said there were other "better-connected" churches on Chicago's South Side which he could have joined if that was his motivation.