Obama dominates 'King Sunday' at black churches

Obama dominates 'King Sunday' at black churches
By ERRIN HAINES Associated Press Writer


Jan 18th, 2009 | ATLANTA -- The third Sunday in January, known as "King Sunday" in Atlanta after Martin Luther King Jr., easily could've been called "Obama Sunday" this year.

King's words again filled the pews and pulpits at black churches across the country, only this time, they found new weight with Barack Obama's pending inauguration as the nation's first black president.

Many black preachers touted the moment -- the 23rd federal observance of King's birthday falls on the eve of the inauguration -- as a mark of America's progress toward a racially just society. Black worshippers sang "We Shall Overcome" and prayed to protect Obama's family and to help the country follow Obama's leadership.

At Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King preached from 1960 until his death in 1968, the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock was met with applause as he praised Obama's victory and imminent swearing-in.

"Praise the Lord as we look forward to Tuesday," Warnock said. "We ought to all celebrate this morning ... that we've moved closer to who we say we are."

More than 300 people filled the pews at First Cathedral in Bloomfield, Conn., to praise King and Obama before many headed home to pack for bus trips Monday to Washington.

"Obama talked about hope -- this solidified it," the Archbishop LeRoy Bailey Jr. said at the service, in which members of the suburban Hartford congregation watched tapes of King giving speeches that included his 1963 address at the Lincoln Memorial.

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http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/us/2009/01/18/D95PQKLG0_inauguration_black_churches/index.html

But they should still be taxed.