May 5 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama's former pastor has justified his inflammatory remarks as reflecting a tradition of prophetic preaching in the ``invisible'' black church that is misunderstood by his white critics. Many of his fellow black clergymen disagree.
Reverend Jeremiah Wright's controversial statements were ``careless, callous and almost calculating,'' said Reverend John J. Hunter, senior minister at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles.
The timing of his statements ``shows a shallowness on his part that he would risk the success of a campaign that could be a blessing to the entire world,'' Hunter said.
Obama, 46, has split with his former pastor, denouncing Wright's comments, including his praise for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, and his contentions that the government may have had a role in spreading AIDS and that U.S. foreign policy was partly to blame for the Sept. 11 attacks. Still, the controversy is dogging Obama's campaign as he faces critical races in Indiana and North Carolina tomorrow.
Several black pastors said they were alarmed by Wright's comments and his claim that the uproar over them amounts to an attack on the black church. While Wright's style echoes the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. -- who also used harsh language in sermons, once calling America ``the greatest purveyor of violence in the world'' -- his comments in the past week were beyond the pale, the ministers said.
`No More Public Comments'
``I just don't agree with the specifics of his statements,'' said Reverend Wyatt Tee Walker, who was King's chief of staff from 1960 to 1964. ``My hope is he will make no more public pronouncements and let the campaign go forward.''
Walker called Wright a ``great pastor,'' though he added that the controversy isn't helping Obama, an Illinois senator.
``I think Dr. Wright ought to chill,'' said Walker, 80, who was a pastor in Harlem for 37 years and is now retired and living in Virginia.
In his remarks April 28 at the National Press Club in Washington, Wright, 66, said much of the criticism stemmed from a lack of understanding of the black church and the attacks against him were being made ``by people who know nothing about the African-American religious tradition.''
`Little Clue'
Walker, who taught with Wright at the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, agreed that ``white America has very little clue as to the kind of institution that the black church is.'' He also blames the media for fueling the controversy, saying it has ``made much ado about nothing.''
Reverend Raphael Warnock, senior minister of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where King was pastor, defended Wright when snippets of his sermons were first broadcast in March, saying the sound bites were among Wright's most provocative statements and were taken out of context. After the latest comments, though, he criticized him.
``I think Reverend Wright was caricatured unfairly early on,'' said Warnock. Yet with his recent remarks, Wright ``shocked'' many of his fellow pastors and ``caricatured himself,'' Warnock said.
``Perhaps in the course of the media onslaught and all of the public pressure and his own pain, all of that got the best of him,'' Warnock said.
`Hope and Healing'
At the same time, Warnock said Wright's large Chicago ministry and his overall work are reflective of the black church, which has long been ``a source of hope and healing and a public voice on issues that matter to African-Americans.''
Still, Wright's comments may complicate Obama's efforts to win over white working-class voters. Recorded portions from some of Wright's sermons already have been used against local Democrats by North Carolina Republicans in ads.
Hunter, the Los Angeles pastor, said the controversy over Wright may undercut Obama's early success in presenting himself as a candidate who transcends race.
``All of us are encouraged that so many white voters have supported Senator Obama, and it signals progress for America whether he wins or not,'' he said.
At a news conference in Indianapolis on May 2, Obama acknowledged that he had been battling through ``an awful lot of noise'' in recent days.
``We've had a rough couple of weeks,'' Obama said.
Wright is retiring as pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where Obama has worshipped for two decades. He presided at Obama's wedding and at the baptisms of Obama's daughters.
Reverend Reginald Jackson, who heads the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey, said many clergymen ``have known and looked up to Reverend Jeremiah Wright as being both a powerful and scholarly preacher and pastor.''
``The events of the last week have surprised and disappointed many of us,'' he said.
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