[The Rev. Graylan] Hagler says given the government’s past actions \u201d\u201c for example, withholding penicillin from blacks afflicted with syphilis in Tuskegee, Ala. \u201d\u201c many African Americans do believe the U.S. government developed the HIV virus to kill people of color, as Rev. Wright has asserted.<\/p>\n
Hagler says he supports Obama. But he says if Wright’s statements harm Obama’s bid to become the first African American with a shot at the presidency, “chips fall where they may. As every preacher will tell you, the thing they’re accountable to is God Almighty.”<\/p>\n
But Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md., has another take on Obama’s pastor.<\/p>\n
“Jeremiah Wright is not mainstream,” Jackson says.<\/p>\n
Jackson leads a Pentecostal church, which focuses on self-improvement and helping people join the middle class. And while the church cares for the poor, it has little theologically in common with the Rev. Wright’s focus on injustice and oppression.<\/p>\n
“He doesn’t represent the majority,” Jackson says. “My guess is maybe 25 percent of black pastors may hold that view. So you’ve got a gifted communicator with what I would call a flawed world view.”<\/p>\n