POLITICS AND RELIGION: A DANGEROUS CONCOCTION

Father Michael Pfleger, pastor of St Sabina Catholic Church on the southside of Chicago, stormed his way to national prominence with his outrageous remarks regarding Hillary Clinton and white people in general, while speaking from the pulpit of the notorious Trinity United Church of Christ, former home of the equally notorious Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It would be a supreme understatement to say Pfleger's comments were racist and imflammatory. One has to think that one night Michael Pfleger went to bed, woke up the next morning, looked into the mirror and determined that he had been transformed into a black man. What other explanation can be given for his behavior? He is the white pastor of an all black parish, has embraced Louis Farrekhan and called him a brother and a friend, and speaks in an accent that can best be described as faux Tupac Shakur. So what would possess an Obama supporter, like Pfleger, to scream such racist nonsense that could only serve to bring more embarrassment to Obama? There's one simple answer. He wanted to endear himself to his black audience. This was his moment to solidify his street cred as a genuine black man wannabe. It was a black church, a black congregation, and a speech to support a black presidential candidate. Pfleger must have thought he died and went to wigger heaven.

There is a lesson to be learned here for all political candidates: Do not mix politics and religion. I am sure Barack Obama would concur. Jeremiah Wright and Father Pfleger have been his biggest obstacles in his trek to the White House. John McCain has had his clergy eruptions as well. He has had to repudiate and seperate himself from the remarks of evangalists and supporters John Hagee and Rod Parsley.

During his presidential campaign, Geore W. Bush caught tremendous heat for speaking on the campus of Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist college.

There is a seperation of church and state in this country for a reason. If religious leaders want to get involved with candidates and politics, then let their tax exempt status be revoked, and let them pay taxes like the rest of us.

As for the candidates, stay out of the churches. If you truly believe in your Bible, then remember the passage about rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's.