• Posted on Saturday, March 29, 2008
  • Bookmark and Share
  • email
  • |
  • print
  • |
  • rss

tool name

close
tool goes here

Black church leaders back Obama's pastor at Texas event

Sign up for email newsletters now!

Sign up for email newsletters now!

Never miss a McClatchy story

More on this Story

Comments (0)

DALLAS — In the wake of the controversy over statements by a former pastor of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, leaders of a black church summit took issue with characterizations of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright as racist.

"What is eminently clear is the degree to which the black church is still largely misunderstood and routinely caricatured in U.S. popular culture. ... We now realize why the 11 o'clock hour on Sunday is the most segregated hour of the week," said Stacey Floyd-Thomas, director of black church studies at Fort Worth's Brite Divinity School, during a news conference Friday at Dallas' Friendship West Baptist Church.

About 20 scholars from the summit stood with Floyd-Thomas, an associate professor of ethics, among them Wright's cousin, the Rev. Dennis Wiley of Covenant Baptist Church in Washington D.C. Wright was to have appeared at the summit Saturday, but canceled. The summit was moved to Dallas from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth out of security concerns.

Read the full story at Star-Telegram.com.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. Obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules.

Comments are displayed newest first. If you would like to read a thread from beginning to end, select "Oldest first" from the drop down menu.

Featured Blog

Wounded Warriors

"Wounded Warriors" is veterans coverage from McClatchy and other sources. Send a story suggestion.