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Wright's recent media tour was so unfortunate. It would have caused him no harm to wait to travel and speak until January 21, 2009. But of course, on that day, the audience would not have been near as large or as attentive. He got the cameras and front pages because of his parishioner running for President. He knew full well that appearing in public would hurt Obama — he'd been warned, begged, pleaded with not to do it. (The week before, a friend in the campaign told me, "They're freaking out up at HQ — Wright's going on tour, and they can't do a thing to stop it.") Wright was throwing Obama, a parishioner and former friend, under the bus — and he knew it.

But coming from a community that's been told for so long what they're allowed to say and not say has an impact on you. Precisely when you're told to shut up, you preach. At the top of your lungs. For you've got a fire locked up in your bones.

Evangelicals, I think, know something about that.

Jason Byassee is assistant editor at The Christian Century.

Copyright © 2008 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Byassee wrote about Wright and Trinity UCC for the May 29, 2007, issue of The Christian Century.

In March, Collin Hansen interviewed Thabiti Anyabwile, author of The Decline of African American Theology, about Wright and the appeal of black liberation theology.

Pastors and preachers are discussing Wright over at Leadership Journal's Out of Ur blog.

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May (Web-only) 2008, Vol. 52