A group of Black pastors has condemned Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s campaign rhetoric against Raphael Warnock as essentially racist, characterizing her criticism of their fellow minister as an “attack against the Black church.”
In an open letter published on Facebook, the pastors called Loeffler “radical” and “seditious” for supporting the various “feckless” lawsuits filed by President Donald Trump and others challenging election results in several states that asked to “overthrow the will of the people by tossing Black votes."
Loeffler is facing Warnock, the senior pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, in one of two runoff races for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats after no one received more than 50% of the vote in November’s election. Incumbent Republican David Perdue is facing Warnock’s fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff in the other race.
“We see your attacks against Warnock as a broader attack against the Black church and faith traditions for which we stand,” the letter posted Saturday said.
It further criticized Loeffler for characterizing Warnock as “radical” and a “socialist,” condemned her for “pars(ing) and tak(ing) out of context decades old utterances by Warnock from the pulpit,” and called on her to stop attacks on his “prophetic imagination.”
Warnock has retracted or downplayed previous public remarks, such as comparing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to “apartheid South Africa,” Fox News reported.
However, he amplified his fellow pastors’ comments in a Twitter post a day later by calling Loeffler’s criticism of him as “hurtful to Black churches across Georgia.”
Loeffler responded by saying she has merely exposed Warnock’s previous statements.
“No one attacked the Black church,” Loeffler said in a Twitter post of her own. “We simply exposed your record in your own words. Instead of playing the victim, start answering simple questions about what you’ve said and who you’ve associated yourself with. If you can’t — you shouldn’t be running for U.S. Senate."
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