Report: Obama resigns membership in controversial church

In the wake of various controversies related to the church he belonged to for 20 years, Barack Obama is reportedly cutting his ties with the institution.

Published May 31, 2008 10:33PM (EDT)

Monroe Anderson, a Chicago journalist, is reporting that Barack Obama has resigned his membership in Trinity United Church of Christ, which he'd attended for 20 years. John McCormick of the Chicago Tribune adds, "Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt confirmed that Obama is essentially resigning from the church. No other details were immediately available."

The church had become a sore subject for Obama earlier in the campaign when remarks by former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright that some considered anti-American surfaced. Recently, controversy over Obama's membership at Trinity surfaced again when video an appearance that the Rev. Michael Pfleger had made there last weekend became available on the Internet. In the video, Pfleger mocks Hillary Clinton, and says, "I really believe that she just always thought, '[The Democratic presidential nomination] is mine. I'm Bill's wife, I'm white and this is mine. I just gotta get up and step into the plate.' And then out of nowhere came, 'Hey, I'm Barack Obama' and she said, 'Oh, damn. Where did you come from? I'm white. I'm entitled. There's a black man stealing my show.'"


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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