Prophetic or pathetic?

People continue to flock to defend the indefensible. In his sermons, Jeremiah Wright does to his congregants' minds what a few Catholic Priests have been doing to their congregants' bodies.

Now, what are some of the comments that are so widely deemed "prophetic?"

"We've bombed Hiroshima, we've bombed Nagasaki, we've nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye."

"We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant. Because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards."

"America's chickens are coming home to roost. Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred and terrorism begets terrorism."

"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America'? No, no, no, not 'God Bless America,' 'God Damn America.'"

"The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. The government lied."

How is this not prophetic? Well...

As morally disturbing as the Rev. Wright's comments are, and as troubling as is the fact that the man favored to be the Democratic Party's candidate for president of the United States chose to stay in the reverend's church for 20 years, there is something even more disturbing in the widespread labeling of these comments as "prophetic."

It is one thing to have a broken moral compass as do the Rev. Wright and those many Americans of all colors who also see America as a force for evil; who also believe immoral American behavior caused the slaughter of 9/11; who similarly regard America as morally equivalent to its terrorist enemies; and who see Israel as the moral equivalent of those who seek to exterminate the Jewish state. But to distort the biblical prophets' values to mean the opposite of what they actually mean is arguably an even greater sin.

The essence of the real prophets was not that they said things that disturbed people; the moral essence of the prophets was their moral clarity. They knew the difference between good and evil. "Woe unto those who call good 'evil' and call evil 'good,'" said the Prophet Isaiah.

Those who cannot see the monumental moral gulf between America and the unspeakably evil jihadists America is fighting in Iraq and elsewhere are not prophets. Those who think Americans got what they deserved on 9/11 are not prophets. Those who think the Russian people were better off under Communism are not prophets. Those who think America developed AIDS and infected people of color with it are not prophets. Those who think America is more worthy of damnation than of blessing are not prophets. They are fools.

So many times, when people are saying "prophetic", my ear tricks me into hearing "pathetic".

Yet, beyond the bad pun, this is a pathetic voice. Wright's sermons are rooted in pathos:

We are victims. We feel sorry for ourselves. It is your duty to feel sorry for us too, and bend over backwards to make us feel better.

We are victims. We are incapable of improving our own lot. It is your duty to lift us up, especially since you have kept us down all this time.

We are pathetic.