“I think in the eagerness to protect the right to life issues, there were some things said, not about that issue, that were not always fair and that were insensitive that need to be rethought,” said Bishop T.D. Jakes . . . .
I would love to see black and white Christians find common ground, and a deeper understanding of each other’s needs.” . . . .
An “eagerness to protect right to life issues”?!?!?! Shouldn’t T.D. Jakes as a supposed man of God been over eager for that issue?
If T.D. Jakes cannot understand as a supposed “Bishop” that there were other very fundamental Biblical reasons even beyond Obama’s horrific stance on abortion for why Christians should have rejected Barack Obama then he shows once again why T.D. Jakes himself should be avoided by all Christians.
This statement by T.D. Jakes continues to show his slide into abject apostasy, along with his “Oneness” Theology, his back tracking on Jesus being on the only way to Heaven and his softness on Homosexuality!
Avoid T.D. Jakes!
I applaud those African-American Pastors and Christian Leaders who stuck their necks out and spoke the truth about Barack Obama! The ones who let their Christian light shine no matter the persecution they faced from other African-American’s for not voting based on race alone!
I also applaud those European-Americans who spoke the truth about John McCain, and refused to allow race to be the decider for them as well. Who did not let the “lesser of Two Evils” straw man argument force them into silence over John McCains anti-Biblical views!
We are in perilious times and it is sad that many Christians are allowing culture to trump their Christian faith in their decisions!
As Jesus said:
Matthew 10:32-33 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
The barrier-crossing election of Barack Obama did little to bridge the deep racial divide in American churches. In fact, some clergy say it has only served to underscore their differences.
While nonwhite Christians voted overwhelmingly for Obama, most white Christians backed John McCain, according to exit polls. Several black clergy said that criticism of Obama by some white Christians over his religious beliefs and support for abortion rights crossed the line, hurting longtime efforts to reconcile their communities.
“I think in the eagerness to protect the right to life issues, there were some things said, not about that issue, that were not always fair and that were insensitive that need to be rethought,” said Bishop T.D. Jakes, a prominent African-American pastor and founder of The Potter’s House, a theologically conservative megachurch in Dallas. “I would love to see black and white Christians find common ground, and a deeper understanding of each other’s needs.”
The Rev. Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the denomination’s flagship school, said white evangelicals backed McCain because of his opposition to abortion rights, not because of the race of either candidate.
“White conservative evangelicals, not just in this election, but in many successive cycles, tended to vote on the basis of moral issues,” Mohler said. “Those evangelicals will still join in celebrating, very eagerly, that America has elected an African-American president and see it as a cause for celebration and recognize its deep spiritual significance.”
According to Associated Press exit polls, 34 percent of white Protestants voted for Obama, while 65 percent went with McCain. Obama won the overall Roman Catholic vote, but white Catholics backed McCain by a slim majority, 52 percent to 47 percent. Among white Christians, the racial gap was most pronounced with evangelicals: 74 percent backed McCain, 24 percent backed Obama.
The pattern is not new and fits the larger trend of white voters overall, the majority of whom voted for McCain. Even so, white Christians were still part of Obama’s winning coalition, drawing millions of their votes. However, the racial gaps stood out at a time when African-American churchgoers exulted in the historic first of Obama’s victory.
“The contrast between the white religious community and the nonwhite religious community … is particularly strong this year,” said John Green, an expert on religion and politics and senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
White conservative Christians are more concerned than ever about reaching out to minorities, particularly as immigration has led to what some call the “browning” of American Christianity. Right now, nearly all U.S. churches serve a single ethnic group.
While white and black Christian conservatives generally share an opposition to abortion rights and gay marriage, they often split over how to end social ills such as poverty and crime.
But the rhetoric this year went beyond the usual differences over worldview, said Derrick W. Hutchins, a leader in the Church of God in Christ. The predominantly African-American group is Pentecostal and one of the largest denomination’s in the country.
Hutchins was angered by repeated accusations that he and other black theological conservatives had abandoned their religious beliefs simply to vote for an African-American. The claims came not only from white Christians, but also from some blacks who backed McCain.
“What they did is insult our biblical understanding,” said Hutchins, who voted for Obama and has backed Democrats in past presidential elections. “The white religious right-wing determined that if you didn’t vote for McCain, you were not meeting a standard of the Bible.”
The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, an African-American Methodist pastor from Houston, said that some white Christian conservatives had helped fuel false rumors that Obama was Muslim, by questioning whether he was truly Christian and calling his support for abortion rights “demonic” and “diabolical.”
Caldwell, an Obama supporter who backed President Bush in the past two elections, said other candidates have diverged dramatically from Christian teachings in their policies and personal lives and have not been maligned as Obama has.
“Some members of the Christian community want to label him as the anti-Christ,” said Caldwell. “What has he done to deserve that label, when none of his predecessors are so characterized?”
But Bishop Harry Jackson, an African-American pastor of Hope Christian Church in Washington, D.C., and a McCain supporter, said questions about Obama’s more liberal reading of Scripture was fair game. Jackson noted that Obama became an observant Christian through the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Videos of Wright’s sermons that circulated widely earlier this year showed him cursing the government and accusing it of conspiring against blacks. Obama eventually left the church.
“Many, many people question whether Barack Obama had been under a legitimate Christian leadership figure,” Jackson said. “I personally never ascribed any vitriolic character assassination to it.”
I whole-heartedly agree. I feel that statistics have prooven the evangelical white community to be a block that voted on the moral biblical issues that are the most important to them as a whole. Colour or race were in no way a factor. They would have whole-heartedly welcomed a black presidential candidate that represented their views.
The HORRIFYING views Obama has had on Abortion would have been the initial catalyst to turn their votes against him but by NO means the only one. The more we learned about the man the more terrified we became. For starters his 20 yr. pastor the Rev. Wright and HIS totally racist comments and teachings and support of the Nation of Islam with Wright’s church giving the lifetime achievement award to Louis Farrikaun. The hatred that we felt Wright and his followers has for us “whites” obviously would be held in the heart of Obama who referred to him as “his pastor, mentor and friend”. Then Obama denying his longtime friendship with the terrorist bomber Mr. Ayers who not ONLY bombed the pentagon but said in the aftermath of 911 that he should have excuted MORE bombings. Mr. Obama LIED and said this man was just a man “who lived on his street”, when his Senatorial campaign was launced from Ayers home and Mr. Ayers was the ghost-writer for Obama’s biography. The fact that Sen. Obama wants to launch a Citizen’s Police Force where neighbors will be watching one another is chillingly reminiscent of Hitler’s Germany and the former Soviet Union. His plans to police the air-waves will result in criticism of the future president being shut-down along with the political right’s freedom of speech. The fact that he was trained in a militant Muslim school in Indonesia, a country that HATES the west and murders christians, does NOTHING to comfort evangelicals. The secrecy of his half hour meeting with the radically anti-semitic Hamas that was sealed from publication by the Los Angeles times before the election, as was the long form of his birth-certificate by the governor of Hawaii, does nothing to indicate that this man is in any way honest or trustworthy or even an American citizen. His economic policies and his ploicies on oil are also dis-quieting to say the least. It is for ALL the above reasons that white evangelicals, for the most part did not endorse Senator Obama. As a group, WE feel that WE have been sold out by ANY evangelicals that voted for Obama, black or white. Catholics , Jews or Republicans, who voted for him too. The THING that struck us in the HEART about black evangelicals is not that SOME voted for Obama but that almost ALL of them put their Judeao-Christian values and principles to the side and voted SOLELY on the basis of COLOR. THAT is something we NEVER would have done The future looks very grim for America. Let us hope he will listen to reason and that Americans will stand up and let their voices be heard when it comes to voting on these issues.
TD JAKES, you are a false profit… disgusting…. how can you support abortion and with the same mouth claim Jesus is Lord… Yes no one is perfect, but some sins are obvious and need to be avoided…
Your pride in your position has filled your head with apostasy, and you forgot that being a disiciple of Christ means that you are constantly learning… but you have stopped learning….
ABORTION IS WRONG…. WHAT PART OF THIS DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?????????????
ABORTION IS NOT BIRTH CONTROL, NO ONE HAS TOLD YOU ALL TO GO AND HAVE KIDS…. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT KILLING THEM IS A BETTER ANSWER THAN TO PROVIDE FOR THEM… IF YOU CANT PROVIDE, GIVE IT UP FOR ADOPTION OR…. DON’T HAVE SEX….
Very Good article John. Thank you.
When I heard Bishop T.D. Jakes, a long time favorite of mine, had aligned himself with Obama, I wept. It was like losing a friend. And knowing such an overwhelming majority of Black “Christians” threw Jesus under the bus because of Race makes me so angry. That the color of a candidate’s skin was more important than the content of his character — more important than the Word of God itself is so very troubling! Beyond troubling.
I’ve never been prejudiced, but now I am struggling…I don’t even want to listen to black preachers on TV or the radio anymore. I channel surf through Christian stations till I find someone else. That’s bad I know, but there you have it. I wonder what the late beloved Pastor E.V. Hill would say about all this. How I admired him!
I think it all evidences we are indeed living in the last days. God help us all. — Sojourner
Obama made Hitler look like a choir boy,,, he has the blood of millions of murdered babies on his hands,,,he is an atheist and clearly anti American ,,, a thief and a liar,,,,, an anti christ for sure. And T D Jakes is a phony snake oil salesman which all people should avoid He is a race baiter and a double minded individual who cares more about what the Obamas and Oprah think about him than what Jesus thinks about him. He is full of himself to the point of arrogance ,,,, he has become truly nauseating.
You are what you support,,,, he supported Obama his pal so therefore he supports abortion which makes him by proxy a devil,,, he refuses to denounce abortion and homosexual marriage what more needs to be said about his being a snake oil salesman?