Scarborough Decries reinstatement of Rev. Pfleger
- Jun 11, 2008
Dr. Rick Scarborough, a Baptist preacher and president of Vision America Action, said he was “shocked and dismayed” by the reinstatement of Rev. Michael Pfleger as pastor of Saint Sabina Catholic Church in Chicago. “Like most Catholics and non-Catholics in America, I viewed the steps of discipline for Rev. Pfleger’s blatant assault on America as a good first step by Cardinal George. I never dreamed it would be the last step as well. Such disregard for the true and high purposes of the clergy’s role in society is why pastors are increasingly held in low regard by most Americans,” Scarborough observed.
“Here’s a man who makes blatantly anti-American, racist remarks – who practically campaigns for Obama from the pulpit – and Cardinal George reinstates him after a brief suspension, with practically no restrictions,” Scarborough said.
In a May sermon at Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC) – Barack Obama’s church for 20 years -- Pfleger said “America has been raping people of color, and America has to pay the price for rape.” He also charged that “racism is America’s greatest addiction” and “America is the greatest sin against God.”
Scarborough commented: “This is totally outrageous and just plain dumb. Rev. Pfleger is free to choose and rank his favorite sins, but -- our mistakes notwithstanding -- for 232 years, America has been a blessing to humanity. How many millions have we fed? How many nations did we free from the horrors of Nazism and communism? America is the greatest sin against God? Has Pfleger forgotten the tens of millions who have died at hands of such brutal tyrants as Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Sadam Husein, and Idi Amin – among other mass murderers?”
“Preachers who abuse the high calling of God in Christ by using their pulpits to spew out such venom, laced with four letter words, and calling it preaching, may be committing to the greatest sin against God,” Scarborough added.
The Vision America Action President said the Pfleger controversy could spell trouble for Obama in the fall.
“Even though he’s finally quit Trinity United, Barack Obama was a member of that church for two decades,” Scarborough observed. “He sat in a pew and listened to his mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, spew the same anti-American venom week after week – with nary a word of protest from the man who says he wants to bring us all together. The Senator has got some explaining to do. It seems he learned more about what the leaders of his church stood for while he was away campaigning for the past 10 months, than he did by sitting in a pew for 20 years”
Scarborough also wondered why groups like Americans United for Separation of Church and State aren’t on Pfleger’s case.
“They spend a lot of time and money harassing conservative Christians – trying to convince us that the perfectly lawful exercise of our First Amendment rights is somehow illegal,” Scarborough charged. “But if you’ll go the website of Americans United, there’s not a word about Pfleger’s flagrant politicking for Obama. In his TUCC guest sermon, he heaped abuse on Hillary Clinton, when she was still a candidate for the Democratic nomination. Frankly, that’s not illegal either. Such speech is protected by the First Amendment, but the blatant hypocrisy of this selective persecution reveals the true agenda of the ACLU and American’s United -- the silencing of conservative pastors while the left gets a pass.”
Vision America Action is dedicated to educating, mobilizing and activating Values Voters in this crucial election year. For more information, visit www.visionamericaaction.us. To schedule an interview with Dr. Scarborough, contact Catherine Wyatt at 936-559-0822 or .
