Georgia Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock—who defended former President Barack Obama’s inflammatory one-time pastor in 2008—is revealed to have also hosted him as a guest preacher at his Atlanta church in 2014.
Georgia Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock—who defended former President Barack Obama’s inflammatory one-time pastor in 2008—is revealed to have also hosted him as a guest preacher at his Atlanta church in 2014.
A flyer for the Sept. 10, 2014 event uploaded to Facebook advertised Rev. Jeremiah Wright as an honored guest slated to appear at Warnock’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church's "Fall Fire: A Revival Experience."
A campaign spokesperson for incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler—Warnock's election rival—blasted the discovery. Warnock is running to unseat Loeffler in the closely contested race, which is one of two Georgia runoff Senate elections that will determine which party controls the chamber next year.
"Not only did Raphael Warnock praise Jeremiah Wright’s 'God Damn America' sermon, he thought it was so great that he invited him to Ebenezer Baptist to deliver it," Loeffler's communications director Stephen Lawson told Fox News Thursday night. "Does Georgia really want a U.S. senator who thinks God should damn America?" Lawson asked.
??BREAKING: Raphael Warnock hosted Jeremiah Wright, who said "God Damn America," as guest preacher in 2014 https://t.co/oFDTKHLDsT
— Stephen Lawson (@StephenLawson_)
The Senate candidate previously pardoned Wright in a 2008 Fox News interview. The public defense followed resurfaced video of Wright delivering a controversial 2003 sermon, entitled "Confusing God and Government," in response to the nation's invasion of Iraq.
"Not God bless America; God damn America," Wright said at the time. "That’s in the Bible, for killing innocent people. God damn America, for treating her citizens as less than human. God damn America as long as she tries to act like she is God and she is supreme."
Warnock has since lambasted critics for harping on old soundbites, claiming that the public "celebrate[s]" Wright "in the same way" that America commemorates the "truth-telling tradition of the Black church."
He further stated that "the country had been done a disservice" by airing clips of Wright without purported context, the Washington Post reported, excusing Warnock's "long, nuanced explanation."
Wright sparked outrage again in 2009 when he blamed Jews for preventing him from speaking with Obama. The former president then distanced himself from the preacher over his "divisive" remarks.
But in 2013, Warnock doubled down on his praise for Wright’s sermon during his 45-minute academic "Piety or Protest: Black Theology and the Divided Mind of the Black Church" speech at the Yale Divinity School. He called the rhetoric a "very fine homily" on God and government, alleging that Wright's words were "consistent with Black prophetic preaching" and Christian thinkers like St. Augustine.
Despite his repeated character attestations of Wright, Warnock has disavowed anti-Semitism. Last week, Warnock was endorsed by progressive Jewish group Democratic Majority for Israel PAC.
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