Quotes from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Associated Press

Originally published 12:44 p.m., March 18, 2008
Updated 12:44 p.m., March 18, 2008

Some controversial comments by Barack Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who recently retired:

— In a sermon after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001: "We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Wright said. "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

— In a 2003 sermon, he said blacks should condemn the United States: "The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

— Promoting Obama's candidacy in a sermon last December: "Barack knows what it means to be a black man to be living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people. Hillary can never know that. Hillary ain't never been called a n-----."