Atlanta, GA – Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Jim Galloway took a critical eye to the attacks Senator Kelly Loeffler and her allies are making against Reverend Raphael Warnock and the historic church where he serves as Senior Pastor and set the record straight, calling them “highly selective” and “disturbing.” 

Opinion: The Kelly Loeffler, Raphael Warnock runoff crosses a line
Jim Galloway
December 1, 2020

Key excerpts below. Read the full column here.  

• Loeffler and her colleagues are trashing more than a Jan. 5 runoff opponent. They are trashing the fragile relationship that Georgia Republicans have maintained with Ebenezer and, by extension, the King family.
• For more than 25 years straight, Isakson was present for MLK Day ceremonies at Ebenezer.
• [Warnock] once served, at Isakson’s invitation, as chaplain of the day in the U.S. Senate. Warnock was also Isakson’s guest at the State of the Union address by President Barack Obama in 2012.
• Loeffler & Co. are working from a specific template — the Republican attempt in 2008 to stitch Obama, then a Democratic presidential candidate, to Jeremiah Wright, the fiery pastor of the Chicago church the Obamas attended.
• It is a strategy abetted by a key difference, easily exploitable, between white and black congregations in the Protestant world. Generally speaking, white churches emphasize personal salvation. In black churches, that emphasis is often in tension with the priority of social justice — a tradition that pre-dates the Civil War in the U.S. In theological shorthand, it is “the sin of slavery” vs. “the slavery of sin.”
• Let us dissect one example. In mid-November, a conservative media outlet somehow came by the knowledge that, ‘way back in 2011, Warnock uttered the phrase “America, nobody can serve God and the military. You can’t serve God and money.” A three-minute YouTube video was provided as evidence.
• The problem is that there were 30 minutes of sermon in front of that clip, which make clear that Warnock was delivering a very standard pulpit point about priorities — that one cannot serve two masters, and that one’s first loyalty is to God.
• Did I mention that this particular sermon was delivered on Palm Sunday? It is a day when a preacher’s focus falls on Jesus’ appearance before Pontius Pilate, the military governor of Judea.
• For some reason, the archeologists who dug up that 2011 sermon by Warnock neglected one of the pastor’s first examples about the dangers of a powerful person operating without a God-driven conscience. Warnock cited a certain reality TV personality who was then spreading the lie that President Obama wasn’t born in the United States.
• But yes, Warnock did say that God should have priority over military service or money. Doug Collins — he who uttered those fiery words about Ebenezer — might quibble with the exact words that Warnock used nine years ago. “I pastored for over 11 years,” Collins said last Saturday. “I’m still a United States Air Force Reserve chaplain who served in Iraq.”
• And yet, in essence, Collins agrees with Warnock. The Georgia congressman/chaplain has been a steadfast champion of religious expression in the U.S. military.
• In July, Collins wrote a letter to the Pentagon protesting a recent Navy order that prohibited service members and chaplains from attending off-base, indoor religious services — to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
• The Navy backed down. God first, military second, one might say.

About Reverend Warnock

Reverend Raphael Warnock grew up in Kayton Homes public housing in Savannah. Fifteen years ago, he was chosen to serve as Senior Pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the former pulpit of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He is only the fifth Senior Pastor in the history of the church and the youngest pastor ever selected to serve in that position. Reverend Warnock believes his service does not stop at the church door, and has been an advocate to expand health care coverage and to ensure hardworking Georgians can make a living wage. As Senator, Reverend Warnock will bring to Washington the concerns of struggling Georgia families who wonder why no one is looking out for them, and focus on fighting for quality, affordable health care, for the dignity of working people who are paid too little as our government works more for Wall Street, and to make sure every voice is heard.

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