A pastor’s remarks about race and sexism at Easter services attended by President Barack Obama and his family were perfectly fine fodder for a church sermon, but should have been more specific, veteran political commentator Roland Martin says.
“I don’t believe in general sweeping statements,’’ Martin, a syndicated columnist and former CNN contributor told Newsmax TV’s “The Steve Malzberg Show.’’
“So if I’m sitting there as a member of the congregation … be a little bit more specific, please, so I can understand what you’re actually saying, what points you’re trying to get across.’’
During the service at St. John’s Epsicopal Church in Washington, D.C., the Rev. Louis Leon said members of the religious right want to see African-Americans “in the back of the bus,” immigrants “back on their side of the border,’’ and women “back in the kitchen.”
“It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back,’’ Leon said.
Martin told Malzberg that Leon was well within his First Amendment rights to make any kind of statement from the pulpit — even on Easter.
“Whether you say it next Sunday or whether you say it on Easter Sunday, you’re going to have people who disagree with you,’’ he said.
“To be perfectly honest with you, in the Christian Church, we have what we call CME members — Christmas, Mother’s Day, and Easter members, people who that’s the only time they go to church.
“So, maybe he was trying to reach the folks who rarely ever go to church except for on those special days.’’
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