Obama's church: 'Enough is enough'
TRINITY | Ministers call for dialogue on race, end to disruptions
It's time to talk about race. And the media need to back off.
That was the message Thursday at Barack Obama's hometown church, Trinity United Church of Christ, which has been at the center of a political fire storm over incendiary sermons by its former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
(Sun-Times file)
While the church's parent denomination called for a "sacred conversation" about race next month, Trinity leaders asked reporters to stop disrupting services.
"Although this is a difficult time for us, I believe Dr. [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] would be proud of the fact that men and women of all races are standing together at this very moment, united, willing to engage in open conversation around the issue of race," Trinity's soon-to-be senior pastor, the Rev. Otis Moss III, told a news conference attended by a multi-ethnic group of politicians and clergy.
The National Council of Churches' general secretary, the Rev. Michael Kinnamon, and United Church of Christ general minister and president John H. Thomas also spoke. Both echoed Moss' sentiments.
"[W]e are not here to try to stir up the controversy around Trinity church," said Thomas, who has called for a nationwide "sacred conversation" about race in America. "We're here to call for a new conversation, a sacred conversation, a holy conversation ... that is not in denial about where we are in this country, but that seeks to claim the challenge that we can, in fact, as Dr. King said, make America a better place."
Moss also used the occasion to note unspecified threats received by the church and to scold members of the media for intrusive tactics. Trinity's "sacred space," he said, "has been seized upon and compromised."
"But that ends today," he declared. "As a church, we say no more, enough is enough. Today, we the pastors, members and supporters of Trinity United Church of Christ proclaim that we take back our sacred space."