Monday, March 17, 2008

Jeremiah Wright in Severna Park

Anyone who has a television or a radio has by now become familiar with the charming Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the now-retired spiritual leader of Presidential hopeful Barack Hussein Obama. The good reverend holds forth on hours of recorded church services about the devil incarnated in every single non-black man and woman in this country.

Now, it seems that notoriety of Rev. Wright has infected members of the clergy here in Severna Park. For those not familiar with our little hamlet nestled on the gentle shores of the Severn River, the residents are among the most affluent, well-educated white people in Maryland. And on Palm Sunday my church, the Severna Park United Methodist Church filled up with its affluent-well educated white people and clergy.

After a wonderful service on the meaning of Palm Sunday, our assistant pastor proceeded to accuse the congregation of being greedy capitalists who cared not a wit for the less fortunate, who were making unjust war upon innocent people and were befouling the earth, to boot. I don't have the transcripts of her sermon, but that was the gist.

I was stunned. This was even more over the top than previous sermons with which I had taken issue. But what was even more appalling was that I seemed to be the only one in the church that morning who was insulted. Am I the only one that heard the pastor's words? Am I the only one who new what those words meant? Possibly.

The people of Severna Park while being rich and well educated, are not very bright. To illustrate, I was walking through one of the richer neighborhoods with my wife and daughter. The idea was to get some exercise after dinner. It was there, in the window of a million-dollar house, was an Obama for President lawn sign. Instantly I tried to reconcile the two facts: 1. the man is rich, and 2; the man supports Obama. The only explanation I can reach is: the man is an idiot.

He is either an idiot or one of the evil white people that the pastor had begged salvation from earlier that day. To give the man the benefit of the doubt, I'll assume he is an idiot. But Mike, can't rich white people support Obama, too? Sure. They can. But they have to understand what that support means. They are saying by their support, "I got mine and I am supporting one of the two people running for president who will make damn sure you don't get yours. I am supporting candidates one of whom considers me and my neighbors to be the devil incarnate and the other who will say and do anything to grab and keep political power."

Of course, there is the extremely superficial set who want to appear to be Obama supporters simply because it's all the rage. God forbid we should be seen as not sufficiently sensitive and politically correct. Superficial idiots. This can also be called the Life Boat set after the movie in which the famous line "Some of my best friends are [insert minority ethnic group]."

On Palm Sunday the church was almost as well attended as it was on Christmas and Easter. So the pastor had a large captive audience, as she knew she would. The senior pastor announces his retirement and what can follow that? Jeremiah Wright, of course!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is your mother. Your description of you preachers sermon was alarming. Today I heard a reporter say that Obama said that there was white guilt in this country. I just sent Obama an email saying I had no white guilt or guilt of any kind and described my family's history in this country.

Anonymous said...

The truth shall set you free.

The gist of your comment about the wealthy Obama supporter, as I understand it, is that wealthy people are supposed to support only Republican candidates in order to preserve their wealth. If not they are stupid.

That right?

I see a tax hike in your future. :o)

Mike Netherland said...

Ah, Clark, a returning commenter! To answer your question, allow me to quote myself:

They are saying by their support, "I got mine and I am supporting one of the two people running for president who will make damn sure you don't get yours.

Wealthy people, black or white, are by definition beneficiaries of the very policies that their candidate (also wealthy) openly condemns. They have taken their fair share from a society that values the ability of individuals to take their fair share.

But this same society (should) frown on those who would, after climbing to success, dismantle the ladder and defame the people who are trying to climb it behind them.

The wealthy Obama supporters gleefully burn all the other lifeboats on the ship as they take their seat in safety and comfort, marvelling at how the masses aboard the once mighty ship now foundering from their sabotage, cheer on their saboteurs.

Anonymous said...

Mike,
Great article. Do you think that you're giving McCain a pass when you imply that there are only 2 candidates in this race who will ensure that we are unable to move ahead and build wealth? Who was the co-author of the "Carbon Tax" bill? Who was the author of the "Amnesty" bill? McCain on both - he is no conservative, and we shouldn't be voting him in just so that the President can have a nice little R by his name. Conservatives need to make a stand now, or there won't be anything to stand for when your children are your age.

Mike Netherland said...

Dude,
Sen. McCain will be the first to tell you that he is getting no pass from conservatives. We had our chance to make a stand and our conservative champions went down in flames. Why?

So we Rs, big and little, have little choice, don't we? You will never read on this blog how wonderful Sen. McCain will be as President. As unpalatable as he is, he is not a socialist and not a racist. He will keep the Islamic horde from our shores and maintain the honor of the Presidency. The same cannot, unfortunately, be said of the Democratic candidates, with a straight face.

Anonymous said...

I'm a fellow Severna Park yuppie and you are correct in stating we are the most affluent, well-educated white people in Maryland. I can't see how anyone in Severna Park could vote for a guy like Obama and I'm happy to say I see little support for him in my neighborhood. I'm also an avid church person and questioned my pastors on what their thoughts were on the sermons coming from Jeremiah Wright. Thankfully they do not share opinions of Mr. Wright but do feel our 21146 zip code could be a little more giving given the wealth in the area. With all that being said I'm happy to say our church does not accuse the congregation of being greedy capitalists who care not a wit for the less fortunate. In fact I was quite impressed with how our church talks about giving. See: http://images.acswebnetworks.com/1/551/080504TB.pdf

Food for thought. Keep posting, I just found your blog today.

Mike Netherland said...

I'll keep posting as long as you keep reading and commenting! Oh yeah, our church talks a lot about giving as well, sometimes in the same breath as they condemn those who make the money to give.

So are you going to make me guess who TCB is?

Anonymous said...

Your comments are very interesting. I attend Severna Park UMC, and was present for the service on 3/16/2008 - Palm Sunday. The Christian Education minister preached that Sunday, not the assistant minister. I heard something preached that was completely different from the summary you posted.