Contact: Dane Rose, 202-546-8329, ext.106; Rev. Schenck, 703-447-7686

WASHINGTON, March 15 /Christian Newswire/ -- Statement by National Clergy Council president, the Reverend Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK):

"For good or for bad, the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright has for more than 20 years been a spiritual and philosophical mentor to presidential candidate Barack Obama. It is my considered opinion after examining the relationship; Dr. Wright was even more than a mentor to Mr. Obama. Dr. Wright has been a father figure to the fatherless Mr. Obama.

"The National Clergy Council finds Dr. Wright's recent comments extraordinarily indiscrete, inapt, inaccurate and ill-considered, yet we find Mr. Obama's disloyalty even worse. We adjure Mr. Obama to remain faithful to the man who in so many ways shaped him for the campaign he now undertakes.

"Mr. Obama's tossing of Dr. Wright under the bus for political advantage is a painful spectacle and is a classic politics-as-usual move.

"The National Clergy Council adjures Mr. Obama to stay faithful to his father-in-the-faith and take whatever criticism comes. That would be a true change in the political status quo."

Rev. Rob Schenck is president of the National Clergy Council and chair of the Committee on Church and Society for the Evangelical Church Alliance. He is available for further comment.