Obama attends Easter service; minister criticizes "captains of the religious right" According to a press pool report of Leon's sermon, the minister criticized what he called "the captains of the religious right." People often want things to go back to the way things used to be, before "work got difficult and faith got confused, and life got more confusing," Leon said, according to the pool report. "You cannot go back," Leon said, citing the words of Jesus. It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back ... for blacks to be back in the back of the bus ... for women to be back in the kitchen ... for immigrants to be back on their side of the border. Since taking office, the president has also visited a number of African American churches, where he has almost always chosen to worship quietly, speaking only once. Although as the Obamas have never become members of one congregation in the District, they have started to develop a spiritual tradition, largely visiting churches close to the White House. On the Sunday that he was sworn in for a second term, he and his family attended Metropolitan AME - which is only blocks from the presidential residence - where they also worshipped during the previous year's Martin Luther King holiday weekend. The Rev. Ronald Braxton, Metropolitan AME's pastor, turned to politics on Good Friday, as he and scores of church members and community leaders marched with small wooden crosses to Freedom Plaza, calling for an end to gun violence and a way to stop the tide of young people going to prison. The "Stop the Pipeline to Prison and End Gun Violence" rally included a number of speakers who talked about the recent rash of gun violence in the District, which has happened just as members of Congress have been debating gun control legislation. The speakers urged Obama and members of Congress not to forget the plight of African Americans in the inner cities. "With gun control, we want to have some rational policies not only when it happens in Newtown, not only in Aurora, in rural America, but in black America as well," said Georgetown University Professor Michael Eric Dyson, who was the keynote speaker for the event. He noted the hundreds of young people dying as a result of gun violence in cities such as Chicago, Detroit and Washington. Braxton echoed Dyson's remarks: "We are out here today because Christ was crucified on this day for our sins and we symbolically bear his cross today for the redemption of our community. Gun violence is destroying our community. District council member Vincent Orange (D-At large), who took part in the event at Freedom Plaza said in terms of gun violence, "All of the churches have to come together because this is a tragedy."