Obama Attends Easter Service Where Pastor Criticizes the 'Religious Right'

Religion Today | Updated: Apr 01, 2013

Obama Attends Easter Service Where Pastor Criticizes the 'Religious Right'

President Barack Obama attended Easter services at an Episcopal church near the White House and heard a sermon that criticized "captains of the religious right" for holding some people back, CNSNews.com reports. The sermon by Rev. Dr. Luis Leon at St. John's Church was based on the Gospel of John and the resurrection of Jesus. Leon said Jesus told Mary not to hold onto the past -- "You cannot go back" -- and said the religious right should focus on "the way things can be in the now." He went on: "It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back ... for blacks to be back in the back of the bus ... for women to be back in the kitchen ... for immigrants to be on their side of the border." Leon added that the message of Easter was about the "proclamation of victory, the victory of powerful love over loveless power." St. John's Church history claims that every president since James Madison has visited; the Obamas also attended Easter services there in 2009 and 2012.



Obama Attends Easter Service Where Pastor Criticizes the 'Religious Right'