Barack Obama's Church

Netlore Archive: Email rumor labels presidential candidate Barack Obama a racist for attending a church describing itself as 'unashamedly black' with a 'non-negotiable commitment to Africa.'

Description: Email rumor
Circulating since: December 2007
Status: Misrepresents the facts

Email example contributed by Frank G., Dec. 23, 2007:

Click on the website and see that there is an unabashedly RACIST running for president. What if one of the white men or Hill were a member of a church that declared itself "UNASHAMEDLY WHITE?" What would the media have done to them already.

Obama mentioned his church during his appearance with Oprah. It's the Trinity Church of Christ. I found this interesting.

Obama's church:

Please read and go to this church's website and read what is written there. It is very alarming.

Barack Obama is a member of this church and is running for President of the U.S. If you look at the first page of their website, you will learn that this congregation has a non-negotiable commitment to Africa. No where is AMERICA even mentioned. Notice too, what color you will need to be if you should want to join Obama's church... B-L-A-C-K!!! Doesn't look like his choice of religion has improved much over his (former?) Muslim upbringing.

Are you aware that Obama's middle name is Mohammed? Strip away his nice looks, the big smile and smooth talk and what do you get?Certainly a racist, as plainly defined by the stated position of his church! And possibly a covert worshiper of the Muslim faith, even today. This guy desires to rule over America while his loyalty is totally vested in a Black Africa!

I cannot believe this has not been all over the TV and newspapers. This is why it is so important to pass this message along to all of our family & friends. To think that Obama has even the slightest chance in the run for the presidency, is really scary.

Click on the link below:
This is the web page for the church Barack Obama belongs to:

www.tucc.org/about.htm

Comments: This latest Internet smear campaign against Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama tries to have it both ways, accusing him of belonging to a "racist" Christian church on the one hand, while slyly suggesting he might be a "covert Muslim" on the other (the latter claim has already been debunked).

The assertion that Obama's middle name is "Mohammed" is false (later versions make no such claim). The candidate's correct full name is Barack Hussein Obama.

It is true that Barack Obama belongs to Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, which he joined in the early 1980s. It is also true that TUCC describes itself as "unashamedly black," and as having a "non-negotiable commitment to Africa."

Whites not excluded

It is not true that one must be black in order to attend. TUCC is located in a predominantly African American neighborhood in Chicago's South Side and most of its parishioners are black, but there is no racial litmus test for joining. As Christian Post columnist Martin E. Marty observed in April 2007, "being 'unashamedly black' does not mean being 'anti-white.' My wife and I on occasion attend, and, like all other non-blacks, are enthusiastically welcomed."