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Rev. Wright And Farrakhan Attend Pincham Funeral

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Prominent religious leaders including Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright have attended funeral services in Chicago for a former judge and longtime civil rights attorney.

Friends, colleagues, and family said a final farewell to the honorable R. Eugene Pincham.

A cascade of flowers and mourners preceded the casket Saturday.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright presided over the memorial service at Trinity United Church of Christ.

Pincham died over a week ago from lung cancer. Colleagues and family members knew him as a tireless crusader for justice.

"He loved his community. He loved people, he stood for justice. We're glad to see such a large crowd today. In honor of him we're asking people to register to vote today. "We have made facilities available for voter registration we hope that people take advantage of it, "said Pincham's son, Robert Pincham Jr.

Pincham resigned from the bench in 1989, he was 82-years-old.

Prominent religious leaders including Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan attended funeral services. Officials say the megachurch's 2,500-seats were filled with mourners.

Wright, the former pastor at Trinity, has kept a low profile since some of his sermons landed him in the middle of a political firestorm.

But at Pincham's funeral Saturday, Wright made his first extensive public remarks since the controversy began as he paid tribute to his friend.

While discussing "seven lessons the judge taught me," Wright never mentioned Obama, who has rejected some of Wright's comments, which included denunciations of America for its mistreatment of black people and claims that America's promotion of terrorism abroad helped prompt the 9/11 attacks. But Wright did take the opportunity to bash some of the critics of his controversial statements, including Fox News personalities Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity.

And while Wright made no mention of terrorism, he did revisit the topic of America's mistreatment of blacks, saying America's founding fathers "planted slavery and white supremacy in the DNA of this republic," and adding that Thomas Jefferson wrote, " 'God would punish America for the sin of slavery.' I guess that makes Thomas Jefferson unpatriotic," he said to the cheers of the congregation.

Reflecting on the late Pincham, Wright said his faith "was not the jingoistic, chauvinistic 'you're either with us or against us' demonizing kind of faith." Wright said Pincham was friends with "Jews, Muslims, rabbis, imams, fathers in the Catholic church and [Louis] Farrakhan in the Islamic faith."

Escalating into full-preaching mode, Wright thundered, "Fox News can't understand that. [Bill] O'Reilly will never get that. Sean Hannity's stupid fantasy will keep him forever stuck on stupid when it comes to comprehending how you can love a brother who does not believe what you believe. [Pincham's] faith was a faith in a God who loved the whole world not just one country or one creed."

At that point, congregants nearly drowned Wright out with a booming standing ovation.

Wright also referred to Fox News as "Fix News."

And, talking about Pincham's integrity and honesty, Wright said, "You don't change who you are because of where you are. You don't stop telling the truth because it is not politically correct or it makes a racist uncomfortable. You don't blame other folks for not fixing some of the problems in our own community that we can and need to fix ourselves."

The STNG Wire and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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