With the recent scrutiny of Barack Obama’s minister’s seemingly insane comments about race and politics, Americans are looking for guidance as to what those comments mean for a follower of the minister’s church. While Barack Obama has distanced himself from Rev. Jeremiah Wright, even going so far as to “condemn” those comments, the fact remains that religious leaders have been saying some crazy-a$$ $h1t for years.

Wright’s comments center mostly around race—the usual getting pulled over by cops in my Mercedes, not being able to buy a house in a white neighborhood-type stuff. Read Eugene Kane if you need a refresher on that. Anyhow, a lot of people were also insulted by Wright’s 9/11 comment about chickens coming home to roost. This statement makes little sense, though it might in context, but since no news sources (or Obama) are analyzing it in context, we too will take it out of context. One might also say 9/11 was like the grass is always greener, or like father like son, or like cleanliness is next to Godliness. Anyhow, Real Wisconsin News has found some fun quotes for you to consider from other religious leaders, most of whom have also influenced political leaders, or even run for office. Of course, the quotes might also be satire, so take it with a grain of salt (but don’t tell others to take 9/11 that way).

Pat Robertson should probably stop talking altogether, but until he does, he is “a religious leader” who says things like this: “You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense, I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist." - The 700 Club, January 14, 1991. “Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians.” And this one’s for the ladies, "I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that's the way it is, period." But wait, Robertson tried to match Wright on this one about 9/11: “We have insulted God at the highest levels of our government. And, then we say 'why does this happen?' Well, why it’s happening is that God Almighty is lifting His protection from us."

Pope Benedict XVII said this of Islam: “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” Not crazy because it’s necessarily incorrect, but more because those Muslims get pretty crazy themselves when someone goes all hardcore on them. The Pope should just wait for Muslims to blow up stuff and then simply roll his eyes and shake his finger at them like the rest of us.

 Here’s a controversial quote from a famous German leader about Jews: “But what will happen even if we do burn down the Jews' synagogues and forbid them publicly to praise God, to pray, to teach, to utter God's name? They will still keep doing it in secret ... They must be driven from our country ... Indeed, if they had the power to do to us what we are able to do to them, not one of us would live for an hour. But since they lack the power to do this publicly, they remain our daily murderers and bloodthirsty foes in their hearts. Their prayers and curses furnish evidence of that, as do the many stories which relate their torturing of children and all sorts of crimes for which they have often been burned at the stake or banished ... everyone would gladly be rid of them.” Yep, Martin Luther wrote that in On Jews and Their Lies.

Lest we forget, a little racism from the Latter Day Saints (Mor[m]ons): “Not only was Cain called to suffer, but because of his wickedness he became the father of an inferior race.  A curse was placed upon him and that curse has been continued through his lineage and must do so while time endures.... they have been made to feel their inferiority and have been separated from the rest of mankind from the beginning.”-    Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, The Way to Perfection

And also, “The Negro is an unfortunate man. He has been given a black skin. But that is as nothing compared with that greater handicap that he is not permitted to receive the Priesthood and the ordinances of the temple, necessary to prepare men and women to enter into and enjoy a fullness of glory in the celestial kingdom [i.e., godhood].”-    Apostle George F. Richards, Conference Report, April 1939

And last but not least, remember that Jesus did his own trash talking to the Sadducees and Pharisees. No doubt many of the majority saw Jesus’ little minority group as being a little too controversial. Jesus said he was the Son of Man/ Son of God, which, to most of his fellow Jews, would have been a lot like Al Gore claiming to have invented the internet.

Way back when, Moses dropped the hammer on Pharoah. (No, not M.C. Hammer, who once performed at Barack Obama’s Trinity Church.) Don’t think that people in Egypt weren’t a little upset at some of old Moses’ antics. And this brings us to the “Black” church in America, with members seeing daily interactions with a power structure as mimicking events in the Bible. And like many preachers, ministers at those churches may say something that will sound like some crazy-a$$ $h1t, but if we’ve learned one thing from Pat Robertson, it’s that if nobody says what 1.3% of the population is thinking, then we’ll never know what that thought was. And if only a few are even thinking it, does it really matter?