D.C. Church Wrinkles Clinton On Wright

There's a new wrinkle in the controversy over fiery remarks by Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton disparaged the Rev. Jeremiah Wright on Tuesday and told a conservative newspaper publisher, and later a news conference, that she would not have been a member of a church whose leader offered fiery opinions such as those by Wright.

But it turns out that the leader of the church Clinton attended for eight years when her husband was president has leaped into the debate -- on the side of Wright.

The Rev. Dean J. Snyder, leader of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., praised Wright in a statement on the Democrats.org Web site. He also spoke out for Wright during Holy Week church services.

"The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is an outstanding church leader whom I have heard speak a number of times," Snyder said, a day after Obama made a major speech on race, Wright and American politics. "He has served for decades as a profound voice for justice and inclusion in our society. He has been a vocal critic of the racism, sexism and homophobia which still tarnish the American dream."

Clinton's comments marked a clear shift in her handling of the Obama church controversy, which she had generally avoided until now.

"I think that given all we have heard and seen, he would not have been my pastor," Clinton said at a news conference after being asked if Obama should have left the church.

She said she made similar comments to the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The newspaper is published by Richard Mellon Scaife, who was one of the financial backers of a project to investigate all manner of allegations against the Clintons during their White House years.

Snyder said criticism of Wright is off base.

"To evaluate his dynamic ministry on the basis of two or three sound bites does a grave injustice to Dr. Wright, the members of his congregation, and the African-American church which has been the spiritual refuge of a people that has suffered from discrimination, disadvantage and violence.

"Dr. Wright, a member of an integrated denomination, has been an agent of racial reconciliation while proclaiming perceptions and truths uncomfortable for some white people to hear. Those of us who are white Americans would do well to listen carefully to Dr. Wright rather than to use a few of his quotes to polarize.

"This is a critical time in America's history as we seek to repent of our racism. No matter which candidates prevail, let us use this time to listen again to one another and not to distort one another's truth," Snyder said.

Hillary Clinton is a member of the First United Methodist Church of Little Rock, Ark. But the Clintons regularly attended Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., when it was led by another pastor, the Rev. J. Philip Wogaman.

The former president and his wife sought strength in Foundry's faith community during the depths of Bill Clinton's sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky and his impeachment.

Bill Clinton delivered a speech of personal thanks at Foundry when his two terms were over.

"I think of this church when reading the words of Paul that Hillary cited earlier, speaking of his gratitude to the Thessalonians, or constantly remembering their work of faith, their labor of love, their steadfastness of hope," Bill Clinton said in the 2001 address. "I thank Foundry for all that and for being a church home to my family these last eight years."

The Clinton campaign distanced itself from Foundry in a statement to the Guardian America Web site on Tuesday.

"I think not being a member of, or attending a service there for the past seven years, speaks for itself, and renders the hypothetical moot," Clinton senior aide Philippe Reines told Guardian America.

Wright has canceled plans to speak at three services at a Houston church on Sunday, the church's pastor said.

The Rev. Marcus Cosby, pastor at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, told Houston television station KTRK and the Houston Chronicle that safety concerns had prompted Wright's decision.

Cosby told the Chronicle that Wright cited three reasons for canceling: "the safety of the institution to which he has been invited; the safety of his family, which has been placed in harm's way; and for his own safety."