Obama nation: That old-time religion?

Among the many lingering questions about Barack Obama’s beliefs that have been dogging the candidate is the rumor that his church, Trinity United Church of Christ, is a racist church that does not allow white people to attend.

Like many of those questions, the answer depends to an extent upon your perceptions and possibly whom you ask.

According to several sources, white people have attended the church and been welcomed.

However, included in the church’s “10-point vision” of itself is the line describing itself as “a congregation with a non-negotiable COMMITMENT TO AFRICA.” There are also a couple of other statements that suggest the church espouses a radical social view, particularly the line about seeking “restoration.”

Also, Obama’s mentor and the church’s pastor, the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., is a friend of Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader who is known as one of the country’s most virulent racists.

So what are outsiders to make of all this? Certainly, there’s nothing wrong with a little boosterism of one’s roots. Being pro-Africa for most people is as harmless as being Irish on St. Paddy’s day, just a good excuse to share one’s culture and add something valuable to the broader community.

But then there’s Farrakhan lurking on the fringes of this church, and there are also several questionable people in Obama’s own circle of friends, as I’ve written about before.

Is it possible that Pastor Wright could be a friend to Farrakhan, who calls white people “blue-eyed devils” or worse, and not share at least some of his views? And is it possible that Wright would be a mentor to Obama for all these years and Obama would not share some of his views? It’s a sequence of “ifs,” but there’s the key question: Is the friend of the friend of the racist himself a racist?

Does the church’s commitment to Africa cross the line from boosterism into racism, however subtle?

There are white politicians who have been labeled racists for less.

Like many other questions about the presidential candidate, the real answer may be only known to Obama and God.