The first Jackson was the Rev. Jesse Jackson, liberal war horse, civil rights veteran and two-time candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, who delivered a stirring declamation on social justice.

The second  and lesser-known  was Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr., a Democrat who supported President Bush in the last election. He announced the dawn of a new black agenda based on the Bible and emanating from megachurches.

…Farrakhan drew explosive applause when he said that blacks should build unity within their own ranks and rid themselves of dependence on a white power structure.

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. But power won’t concede anything if the demand is coming from a weak constituency that looks like it’s lost its testicular fortitude,” he said.

Jesse Jackson sounded familiar themes of the civil rights movement. He decried racial disparities in income and life expectancy, and cautioned that voting rights were in jeopardy. “We’ve already got an agenda,” he said. “Martin Luther King left us with an agenda.”

“…The problem with so many black churches is all you’ve got to do is say ‘Jesus’ and act like you’re about to be speaking in tongues, act like you’re high in the Spirit. All you’ve got to do is say the word ‘Jesus’ to justify some of the most insidious, invidious, backward-thinking theology you can imagine,” said Michael Eric Dyson, a University of Pennsylvania professor whose upcoming book is titled “Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?”

Afterward, Bishop Jackson said he was taken aback by the strength of the criticism. Three weeks ago, at a conference of conservative black pastors, Jackson introduced his “Black Contract With America on Moral Values,” which called for, among other things, privatization of Social Security and a ban on same-sex marriage (…more)