Over the last month of so we've all heard about the decidedly unhopeful and disuniting views of Barack Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright. But now we're learning a bit more about the views of some of his other spiritual influencers as well. As recounted by Christopher Hitchens in his latest column (a quite good one, by the way), Obama has cited three Illinois religious figures who have most shaped his life: Wright, James Meeks, and Father Michael Pfleger.
David Kopel over at the Volokh Conspiracy has dug up some info about Pfleger. Not too surprisingly, Pfleger has in the past strongly defended the anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan, calling him "a great man" and "a friend of mine." More interesting are some comments made by the Father during a protest rally outside a suburban Chicago gun shop in 2007:
In another demonstration at Chuck's Gun Shop, owned by John Riggio, Rev. Pfleger told the crowd: "We're going to find you and snuff you out....Like a rat you're going to hide. But like a rat, we're going to catch you and pull you out....We're going to snuff out John Riggio." Rev. Pfleger also promised: "We're going to snuff out legislators that are voting against our gun laws. We're coming for you because we're not going to sit idly."
Quite the man of God, he is.
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