Obama's church slammed

CHICAGO -- Since Sen. Barack Obama won the Iowa Democratic caucuses Jan. 3, his church in Chicago, Trinity United Church of Christ, has been the subject of scathing, but false e mails widely circulated through the Internet, according to the denomination's national general minister and president.

Efforts to portray the church as racist and anti-American are "absurd, mean-spirited and politically motivated," said the Rev. John Thomas.

One e-mail circulating suggests that Trinity does not accept non-black members, a claim the church says is demonstrably false. The denomination's chief state minister, the Rev. Jan Fisler Hoffman and her husband--both white--are members of Trinity, according to a statement the church released to buttress its assertion that "Trinity [does] not exclude anyone from membership or attendance based on ethnicity."

Trinity and its pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, have been criticized by conservatives who disparage their commitment to Africa and to black empowerment. The church's motto is "Unashamedly Black, Unapologetically Christian."

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