Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.

Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. has been in the news recently. This is so because one of his congregants for nearly 20 years, Barack Obama, is the leading Democratic presidential candidate.

Mr. Obama's faith became an issue in his presidential campaign. His father and stepfather were both Muslim and he spent some of his childhood in the mostly Muslim nation of Indonesia. These facts along with seriously erroneous information were spread in an email in an effort to associate Mr. Obama with Islam. The email became so widely distributed that Mr. Obama had to try to set the record straight. He did so by stating that "I've been to the same church - the same Christian church - for almost 20 years."

That statement naturally raised curiosity about the church in question, Trinity United Church of Christ, and Dr. Wright whose ministry with the church began in 1972. It was quickly revealed that Dr. Wright was controversial to say the least. Copies of video clips of his sermons were made available and news organizations, particularly ABC News, began scouring them for details.

A very few of the most disturbing portions of the sermons have been made public and are now all over the Internet and on various TV shows. I have now watched and heard several of these segments more than once.

I wish I had not heard Dr. Wright say the things I heard him say. I wish I had not seen him say them. I wish I had not seen the members of the audience jumping and clapping and giving high fives and otherwise celebrating and encouraging his remarks.

The segments make me sick to my stomach. I mean both the throw up vomit kind of sick and the clenched fist punch to the stomach kind of sick. His remarks make my heart hurt. I refuse to listen to them anymore. If one of the segments come on I turn the station or avert my eyes.