The Theology Behind Rev Wright

I suppose I will give my take on the Obama's preacher thing some day this week. I have differing views and also there is important balance to be struck here. However Crunchy Con has a post that shows some of my concerns at The insanity of "black liberation theology" .

As someone immersed in Southern Evangelical(black and white) culture I am pretty forgiving of some of what Wright is doing. An mildly Afro Centric type worship is not really offensive or threatning to me. However here we might have something more. I am very curious what else was promoted there. Especially about 9/11.

Americans fascination with conspiracy theories gets tedious to me. I warned a lot of liberals that their constant rants about how Bush stole the elections, and voting machines, and how Bush was behind 9/11 was not a good thing. Now some parts of the goofy extreme right has taken that up as well as other things.

It quits being funny when a 9 year old black girl in a New Orleans Catholic school thinks that Bush and White people blew up the levees in New Orleans during Katrina to get rid of her and her family. The rethoric of Wright at times causes real life damage. So I would very much like to see waht Obama's Spiritual Father thinks.

However I am also mindful of what the Anchoress is trying to say here at Obama/Wright: A Pastor is not a community. So I do think it is up to us rational voters to try to make an objective investigation of it to oursleves. That is just do not rely on the talking heads left or right. I am not going to be voting Obama of course however this is a part of finding out what are legitimate concerns that should be aired. For instance IMHO the fact that his middle name is Hussian or some some garbage about him being a secret Muslim is not. SO we shall see.

Anyway Obama is being tested in a very important way here just like everyone else is. How he handles this tells us a lot about how he will handle himself in other things.

Update- Rod has a follow up at What's wrong with liberation theology
When I converted Liberation Theology was all the rage among some Catholics with John Paul the II and the the now current Pope having to correct its errors all over the place. Rod says in part:
There is a real spiritual danger in hating the oppressor, and in yielding to the emotional rush that believing in one's own righteousness, or the righteousness of your class, as against The Other. Not one of us are immune to that temptation. This, I think, is one of the problems with "liberation theology" as it has been described: it makes one think that "liberation" comes when we free ourselves from others; in fact, more than anything else we need to be freed from ourselves.

I think that is very true. Pope Benedict talks about this in a different way. In fact he has talked about it at length including the book he released last year.

The Commonplace Book of Zadok the Roman commenting on the Pope's New Social Encycial coming out at Caritas in Veritate said in part:
My guess is that this 'social encyclical' is going to draw on a theme that's very close to the centre of the Holy Father's thoughts. He's consistently argued that the praxis of Christian charity and social reform must be preceded by confronting the question of the truth about God and man... namely in the contemplation of Jesus Christ. Ratzinger has been arguing this for decades. In fact, I think that this is where his fundamental objection to Liberation Theology lies - the huge problem with this movement in was in its prioritising of action over the question of truth. Ratzinger rejects such an approach as failing to respect human dignity and a betrayal of the concrete nature of God's revelation in and through the person of Jesus Christ, Truth-incarnate.