Obama's pastor says 'God damn America'

CHICAGO, March 13 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama's pastor has drawn increased scrutiny since the Illinois senator said his church is not controversial.

Obama's pastor, who has been the longtime leader of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, says that blacks should not sing "God Bless America" but instead "God damn America," ABC News reported.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright has also said the United States brought on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with its own "terrorism," ABC reported.

Just days after the Sept. 11 attacks, ABC reported that Wright said the U.S. government brought on the attacks.

"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 on Sept. 16, 2001.

ABC said it found that Wright regularly talks on the treatment of blacks.

"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," Wright said in a 2003 sermon.

Obama this month said, "I don't think my church is actually particularly controversial." As for the church's pastor, he said Wright is "like an old uncle who says things I don't always agree with."

Wright married Obama and his wife Michelle and baptized their two daughters, the report said.