Did you know that Barack Obama was in a committed relationship with black voters? And did you know that not only is he in that relationship, but he is cheating on black voters, with gay voters, by being nice to gays! Bishop Harry Jackson explains it all:
An influential African-American evangelical pastor says that many black Christians are in an “adulterous” relationship with President Obama over the issue of same-sex marriage and that if the issue is not addressed soon, it will negatively impact the president’s desire for a second term in November.
Barack Obama needs to explain, or many black Christians will kick him out of the house and change their Facebook relationship statuses!
In an interview with The Christian Post, Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr., who is the senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Baltimore, Md., and one of the nation’s most outspoken black pastors, maintains that Obama has drawn a hard line on major theological issues such as same-sex marriage and expects black Christians to compromise their beliefs.
“Obama laid down the gauntlet on black leaders,” Jackson said. “The question we are being forced to address is ‘are you going to be black or be godly.’”
Uh, what? Perhaps Harry Jackson is confused here. Barack Obama is the President of the United States and as such, is not required to agree with Harry Jackson on every little thing. Also, Barack Obama is not a religious leader. Also, Harry Jackson is freaked out because he’s one of the few black religious leaders, like Patrick Wooden in North Carolina, who seems to revel in being used by groups like NOM to further an agenda of hate, and he sees his voice becoming more and more irrelevant.
On Thursday, a group of black ministers calling themselves the Coalition of African-American Pastors, many of whom represent the nation’s fifth largest denomination, the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), are holding a press conference in Memphis, Tenn., to call on Obama to denounce his position on same-sex marriage.
That is probably happening very close to where I’m sitting, but I fear that the world’s largest barbecue festival [I can SMELL IT] will overshadow whatever little hate-filled diatribe COGIC’s got in mind.
The Rev. Bill Owens is a veteran of the civil rights movement and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King and other noted civil rights leaders during the peak of the movement in the 1960s. He believes Obama’s evolution on the issues will have far-reaching effects on society and specifically in the black community.
“We will be spending the next weeks and months visiting black churches, asking for support from pastors and their flocks to speak up against the media-generated view that gay marriage is a civil right,” Owens told CP.
“We ask President Obama to stand with the black church, on the word of God and evolve again back to the common sense biblical view that marriage is the union of husband and wife.”
Meanwhile, many, many other veteran Civil Rights leaders will continue to explain why the two civil rights fights are related. No, they are not the exact same thing, and no one every said they were. But they’re part and parcel of the same march toward justice.
Here’s the part where it gets really weird:
“The black community is in an adulterous relationship with President Obama,” Jackson said. “He is asking us to stray from the most basic tenets of Scripture – that marriage is an institution made by God for man and woman to become one and procreate. He’s telling us it’s fine to hold onto our beliefs but that it’s also okay to accept his stance on a position that goes against that core belief.”
“This is no different than a married person having a relationship with someone other than their spouse,” said Jackson.
Um, nah, really, it’s more that some people disagree with the president and others agree with him. It’s not likely to impact the President’s support from black voters in any significant way. Harry Jackson almost admits as much, in his desperate attempt to not admit it:
Jackson, like Owens, recognizes that the core issue for black Christians – like all Americans – is jobs. “Blacks want to be recognized and not taken advantage of,” Jackson said. “They want politicians to realize there are significant issues of race that still need to be addressed and that jobs and economic opportunity are more important that homosexual marriage.”
Exactly. Which is why, while many black Christian voters may disagree with Obama on this, it’s not going to be a dealbreaker in November. The American people really have moved on from the days when “gay panic” really worked as a political wedge. Sorry, Harry Jackson, but that’s the new reality.
[h/t Right Wing Watch]
These black church leaders as usual refuse to acknowledge that a lot of LGBT people happen to be black!
Hopefully there are many in the A-A Christian community who can actually use logic to address these issues.
{{ did you mean to write: Also, Barack Obama is -NOT- a religious leader. ?? }}
That is what he thinks is the most important tenet of scripture? Oh sure, he should realize that that’s irrelevant anyway due to the freedom of religion, but if he thinks *that* is the most important tenet of Christian scripture than he *really* needs to step down as a pastor.
I mean, seriously.
What does Jackson thinks HE knows, that Civil Rights veterans like Julian Bond, Andrew Young and Rep. John Lewis don’t?
What makes him think that those who were in those trenches, assuring Jackson’ future without Jim Crow, hadn’t thought this through and know what they are talking about?
Jackson wasn’t even born yet, or was a tiny child. Unaware of what the obligations of equality and justice are.
Does he REALLY think he can argue down the fact that equality never hurt ANYONE?
Never hurt marriage.
I seriously get embarrassed by pastors of color. It’s not hard to hand their asses to them. I’ve done it before.
Whenever they start in with ‘but the Bible says…’
Tell them, funny, YOU sound like every racist, misogynist and anti Semite who ever said that ‘natural law’ ordered that white, male, hetero Christians were the arbiters of complete control over others. UNTIL the advent of the Constitution and Bill of Rights and IT’S evolution to protect us all.
The Bible can take no credit for that because it’s been an instrument of oppression and human rights abuses too. So ‘the Constitution says…’ makes a better argument.
The legacy of ‘equal treatment under the law says…’ does too.
And the dictum of Christ himself about treating another as they’d be treated. If they are gonna fall back on their piety and their Christian position, it’s harder to worm out of that last one without looking like a contradictory hypocrite.
Which most anti gay people inevitably have to be.
This story is beyond depressing. Knowing these pastors are channeling the same hate that made our ancestors slaves. The same dogmatic hate that, in the past, dictated that we should be treated like animals or killed simply because of who we are. I am now, more than ever, thankful I found a way out of such a malevolent religion so my mind wouldn’t end up as warped as theirs are.
How sad that anti-gay activist Jackson is allowing himself and his church to be used be race-baiting groups whose only goal is money and power. The “biblical” arguments he uses against law-abiding, taxpaying, gay Americans are the same “biblical” arguments “Christians” used once to justify slavery, segregation and discrimination toward interracial couples. May God open his eyes and heart.
Sad. Marriage equality isn’t going to affect these people in the least–however our inability affects our lives and our families. Way to go ministers. You’re perpetuating another form of the same bigotry that would have, given the chance, made sure you would not have the rights you have today.