Sometime between April 2006 and today, the church Barack Obama has attended for 20 years, Trinity United Church of Christ, quietly edited the “About Us” page of their web site, removing their statement of commitment to “the Black Value System written by the Manford Byrd Recognition Committee chaired by Vallmer Jordan in 1981.”

Here’s the page from 2006, saved by the Internet Archive: Trinity United Church of Christ - About Us.

And here’s the current page: Trinity United Church of Christ - About Us.

The section that was removed:

Trinity United Church of Christ adopted the Black Value System written by the Manford Byrd Recognition Committee chaired by Vallmer Jordan in 1981. We believe in the following 12 precepts and covenantal statements. These Black Ethics must be taught and exemplified in homes, churches, nurseries and schools, wherever Blacks are gathered. They must reflect on the following concepts:

1. Commitment to God
2. Commitment to the Black Community
3. Commitment to the Black Family
4. Dedication to the Pursuit of Education
5. Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence
6. Adherence to the Black Work Ethic
7. Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
8. Disavowal of the Pursuit of “Middleclassness”
9. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the Black Community
10. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting Black Institutions
11. Pledge allegiance to all Black leadership who espouse and embrace the Black Value System
12. Personal commitment to embracement of the Black Value System.

(Hat tip: LGF readers.)

UPDATE at 3/17/08 10:05:37 am:

The Internet Archive shows that the page was edited sometime between March 15, 2007 and March 29, 2007.

UPDATE at 3/17/08 10:29:09 am:

There’s still a PDF file titled “The Black Value System,” hosted at the church web site, and it’s even more extreme than the 12 precepts quoted above.

UPDATE at 3/17/08 10:35:36 am:

An excerpt from the PDF file, on the subject of “Middleclassness:”

Disavowal of the Pursuit of “Middleclassness”

Classic methodology on control of captives teaches that captors must keep the captive ignorant educationally, but trained sufficiently well to serve the system. Also, the captors must be able to identify the “talented tenth” of those subjugated, especially those who show promise of providing the kind of leadership that might threaten the captor’s control.

Those so identified as separated from the rest of the people by:

Killing them off directly, and/or fostering a social system that encourages them to kill off one another.

Placing them in concentration camps, and/or structuring an economic environment that induces captive youth to fill the jails and prisons.

Seducing them into a socioeconomic class system which while training them to earn more dollars, hypnotizes them into believing they are better than others and teaches them to think in terms of “we” and “they” instead of “us”.

So, while it is permissible to chase “middle-incomeness” with all our might, we must avoid the third separation method-the psychological entrapment of Black “middleclassness”: If we avoid the snare, we will also diminish our “voluntary” contributions to methods A and B. And more importantly, Black people no longer will be deprived of their birthright, the leadership, resourcefulness, and example of their own talented persons.

UPDATE at 3/17/08 11:02:00 am:

The Black Value System does indeed have a page at the Trinity web site, but there is apparently no link to it from the “About Us” page where it formerly appeared: Trinity United Church of Christ - The Black Value System.

Instead, at the bottom of the “About Us” page linked above, they have a link to Rev. Wright’s “talking points” about The Black Value System.

UPDATE at 3/17/08 12:27:29 pm:

There is a link to the page, buried at the bottom of their home page. (Hat tip: carl b.)