Though President Obama hasn't picked a church in D.C. to
be his family's church, he does attend from time to time. Yesterday, Easter, He visited Saint John's Episcopal
Church to commemorate, well, it's hard to tell what was commemorated.
By the accounts of the sermon that was preached, I have
a simple one-word assessment:
Pathetic.
The CNN Religion Blog's headline reads, "Obama hears hint of politics during Easter sermon," The Washington Post, "Obama attends Easter service; minister criticizes 'captains of the religious right'," and Newsmax is the most straightforward when they say,
"Obama Pastor Bashes 'Religious Right' During Easter Sermon."
The sermon included only two real errors - its politics
and its theology. Other than that, I am
sure it was wonderful.
The minister upbraided the religious and political right
of wanting to send blacks to the back of the bus. He accused those same people of wanting to
look back to days of oppression and hatred.
In reality, he will not be able to name a single individual who actually
wants to do that and his entire point of view here is dependent upon misguided emotion, not fact.
Theologically he stated that Easter is about the lesson
of looking forward and not backward, about the "power of love not loveless
power," and moving into more modern views on love and marriage. Shame on him.
None of that is true of Easter.
This is a case of a political creature wantonly and unthinkingly
imposing his personal preferences upon the Resurrection.
Quite frankly, don't call that a church service. Let's call it what it was - political
pandering blessed with a pulpit on a Sunday morning.
Don't call that service something that was delivered by a
pastor. Pastors ought to know better
than to say those kinds of hateful and ignorant things under the guise of an
Easter sermon. And I am sure this kind
of thing - and all sorts of silly things - was said hundreds of times over yesterday, which makes it all that
more depressing.
The Church belongs to a power much greater than any
nation, even the office of the President of the United States, and we lower
ourselves when we pander this much.