Rev. Jeremiah Wright delivering a previous sermon

The new pastor at Barack Obama's church says his predecessor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was in a sense crucified just like Jesus Christ at the hands of the Romans.

According to Fox News, Rev. Otis Moss III titled his Easter sunrise sermon "How to Handle a Public Lynching," focusing mainly on the media firestorm over the Chicago church attended by the Democratic presidential candidate.

Moss reportedly did not specify Wright by name, but told the congregation at Trinity United Church of Christ
that Wright, who has delivered sermons in which he likened the U.S. to the Ku Klux Klan and saying it is damned for its state-sponsored terrorism, is facing the same challenges Jesus did.

Moss said: "No one should start a ministry with lynching, no one should end their ministry with lynching. The lynching was national news. The RNN, the Roman News Network, was reporting it and NPR, National Publican Radio had it on the radio. The Jerusalem Post and the Palestine Times all wanted exclusives, they searched out the young ministers, showed up unannounced at their houses, tried to talk with their families, called up their friends, wanted to get a quote on how do you feel about the lynching?"

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The network says Moss made several pleas for donations to what he called the "Resurrection Fund," urging that money was needed at this time to defend the church.

He concluded by saying, "In order to crucify him you've got to lift him up ... he had more visibility on the cross than he did during his entire ministry."

Neither Wright nor Obama were at today's service in Chicago.

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