Jeremiah Wright
The Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. was the pastor of the Trinity United Church Of Christ, a liberal, black-oriented church in Chicago, Illinois, until his retirement in 2008.
Reverend Wright became minister of the church on March 1, 1972. He helped the congregation grow from 87 members to its current membership of somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 members. Wright rose to national prominence during the 2008 presidential election, due to Barack Obama's longtime membership at Trinity.
Fast Facts
- Born: September 22, 1941
- Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Wife: Reverend Ramah Reed Wright
- Elizabeth Payne claimed she had an affair with Wright1
- Has 5 children
- Former U.S. Marine
- Motto of church "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian" was adopted after Wright became pastor
Controversy
Reverend Wright and the Trinity Unity Church came into the spotlight in March, 2008, because of their association with church member and presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Video segments of Reverend Wright voicing controversial opinions on political topics were circulated extensively by opponents of the Obama campaign. Opponents sought to use them as evidence that Obama secretly held views at odds with those he publicly professes. Obama's response was the "race speech" of March 18, 2008.
Unfair Portrayal
On April 24, 2008, during a television appearance with Bill Moyers, Reverend Wright said that the videos of his sermons were taken unfairly out of context to make him appear fanatical. He claimed that the segments shown were edited from a large amount of footage, but presented as though they were representative, in order to hurt his reputation and Obama's.
Elizabeth Payne
In September 2008, a woman came forward with claims that she had been involved with Wright in an extramarital affair.2 Elizabeth Payne—a former secretary at an affiliate church who is 30 years younger than Wright—told the New York Post that she had been romantically involved with the preacher as recently as early 2008.2
Related Pages on Mahalo
Elizabeth Payne | Trinity United Church Of Christ | Michael Pfleger | Jeremiah Wright NAACP | Jeremiah Wright Bill Moyers | Barack Obama | Clinton Wright Photo | Reverend Wright
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