Do white right-wing preachers have it easier than black left-wing preachers? Is there a double standard?

The political explosion around the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was inevitable, given his personal closeness to Barack Obama and the outrageous rubbish the pastor has offered about AIDS, 9/11 and Louis Farrakhan. And after Rev. Wright's bizarre and narcissistic performance at the National Press Club Monday, Mr. Obama would have looked weak and irresolute had he not denounced him.

But if there was a moment of courage in this drama, it was not Mr. Obama's condemnation of Rev. Wright but his earlier and now much-criticized effort to avoid a complete break with his unapologetic pastor.

In March, Mr. Obama tried to explain the anger in the black community and insisted that "to condemn it without understanding its roots only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races."

In light of this racial gap, it's worth pondering why white, right-wing preachers who make shameful statements often emerge with their influence intact.

The catalogue goes back to Bailey Smith, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Speaking at a 1980 religious convention that was also addressed by Ronald Reagan, Rev. Smith declared that "God Almighty does not hear the prayer of a Jew." Reagan later asserted that he thought Jewish prayers were answered, but was less than definitive.

Two days after the 9/11 attacks, Jerry Falwell, appearing on Pat Robertson's "700 Club," declared: "I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.' " Rev. Robertson replied: "Well, I totally concur."

Many conservatives condemned Revs. Falwell and Robertson. And the ministers backed away from their words, but Rev. Falwell's retraction was, at best, partial. "When a nation deserts God and expels God from the culture," he insisted, "the result is not good."

What's telling is that neither preacher lost sway in Republican circles. Before Rev. Falwell's death last year, John McCain actively courted his support, and Rudy Giuliani, the hero of 9/11, welcomed Rev. Robertson's endorsement.

And, of course, there is the endorsement of Mr. McCain by the Rev. John Hagee, who has called the Catholic Church "the great whore of Babylon" and "the anti-Christ."

In an interview, John Danforth, a former Republican senator from Missouri and an Episcopal priest, said that for a long time, the role of the religious right in Republican politics "did not get enough attention," partly because so much of its activity occurred out of public view. "The way that it works is to get the [congregation] listening to you very angry," he said.

The Rev. William Danaher, a professor at the General Theological Seminary argued that African-American preachers draw more fire. "The left black preacher is challenging the social structures that everyone lives in," Rev. Danaher said. "The white preachers on the right don't challenge these structures. Instead, they talk about issues of personal morality and individual behavior."

None of this absolves Rev. Wright. Allen Dwight Callahan, a leading African-American scholar of scripture, argues that "prophets of old didn't announce their prophetic prerogatives at press conferences and press clubs" and that Rev. Wright was "wrong to wrap his recent media attention in the mantel of the prophetic tradition."

Exactly right. Now the question is whether we will be just as tough on false prophets who happen to be white and right wing.