Along with you folks I've been watching the media coverage of the Wright/Obama affair for the last few weeks. I have to tell you here and now that I can hardly believe the ignorance and naivete' of virtually every reporter and talking head on the subject of inner-city Christianity and Wright's particular version of it. It's positively shocking to me that there is zero grasp of what goes on in these "churches". When I tell you about it you're not going to believe it and I can almost guarantee that everyone of you who is Left of center is going to whip me with accusations of racism. Hey, welcome to my world.

I've lived all of my 60 years on the south side of Chicago. I have had social interaction with inner-city blacks throughout that entire time. Back in the 60's, for example, during the height of the civi rights movement I attended a high school that was 90% black. In many of my classes I was the only white student. It was in that setting that I came to understand that racism was not strictly a white affliction. That lesson was brought home to me most emphatically when I had to endure an entire semester of "print shop" ducking a constant barrage of incoming type thrown in the direction of my work station. It was an important lesson to have learned and if more white folks had the opportunity to learn it they would not feel so obliged to inflict themselves with white guilt. I certainly never have.

I offered that bit of my life's background only so that you could have some insight into my qualifications to address issues most white people are not allowed to speak about. I'm going to tell you about inner-city black social perspectives that are completely hidden from white society, including (and especially) mianstream media. If you want to know who Rev. Wright is; if you want to know who the real Barrack Obama is; if you want to know the full truth about racism - not just white racism - you will first have to get to know some of the hidden truths about what is going on in our inner-city churches. You don't have to agree with anything I'm about to say but you must allow yourself to be exposed to the information.

I found myself in the white minority again when I took a job with the Cook County court system. My closest associate there was a struggling storefront minister - a black man naturally. To his annoyance I was constantly trying to draw him into conversations about how he operated his church, what he truly believed about the Bible and what his personal goals were etc. We were together 7 years and in that time I learned some things and heard some things that made me realize that my country is on a path of destruction that is not only irreversible but that only a tiny percentage of white America is even aware of.

One Monday morning the Rev came in with a story that he just had to get off his chest. After having lead services on the previous day the church ladies had invited him to be their guest for dinner at their favorite all you can eat restaurant. The thing that made it their favorite restaurant was that it featured crab legs - a virtual mountain of crab legs! "Tom" he said "I was never so ashamed and embarrassed in my life. After those ladies ate all they could they opened their oversized purses and filled them up with all the crab legs they could hold. Those purses were lined with large plastic bags. Those women knew before they asked me out that they were going to steal those crab legs. How could they disrespect a man of God that way?"

I didn't know if the Rev was trying to bait me into saying something that could be construed as racially judgmental so I held my peace. But I knew exactly why those ladies could disrespect this particular "man of God". He told me so himself when he'd explained to me the founding principle of inner-city Christianity:

Rom. 10:9 - "...if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

This passage and distortions of additional Pauline doctrine concerning "the law" (i.e. the 10 Commandments and Torah law) provide the foundation for practically all inner-city church doctrines. In the vernacular this doctrine is stated as follows: "It is not your deeds or works that will save or damn you. Faith and grace alone can save you and your deeds cannot damn you". If you understand what I'm telling you here you understand that this theological aberration is a license to commit mayhem. Out of it grows such idiotic platitudes as; "Don't hate the sinner, hate the sin". In other words no one should be judged for their deeds. They should only be commended for their faith.

Under the principles of this doctrine believing Christians are no longer subject to "the law" (as described above). Jesus had freed us from the bonds of Jewish law. So that while sin was still possible there would be no penalty from God resulting from it. According to Rom.10:9 the fact that you believe Jesus rose from the dead means that you are irrevocably saved. And as the Rev put it he could murder me today and go to heaven tomorrow.

This should really give you pause for concern since this ideology is at the core of Christianity as it has been being taught thoughout most big city black churches for the last 30 years.

I was never able to judge whether or not the Rev actually believed any of the twisted Christian dogma he spouted. I suspect that either he did believe it or was desperately trying to convince God that he believed it. In either case he certainly practiced inner-city Chritianity according to The Book. He told me one day that he would be holding special classes after services to teach his congregants how to properly fill out forms to defraud the government on various financial assistance programs. That fact should interest you, too, because you have never heard the media explain the real reasons for the failre of so many government programs from medicare to social security.

Did you know that one of the main government rip-offs in the black community is social security? There are "doctors" out there making large fortunes by diagnosing children and babies with life long ailments like asthma, etc so that their parents can recieve government checks for the next 20 years of those children's lives..

...and the "men of God" in these communities are teaching fraud, racism and anti-social behavior of every sort without fear of prosecution. Why?

I have much more to say about this problem. I haven't even touched on Wright or Barrack. There will be more.