ABERDEEN, S.D. — Senator Obama said Saturday he has resigned his 20-year membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago “with some sadness” in the aftermath of inflammatory remarks by his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and more recent fiery remarks at the church by a visiting priest.

“This is not a decision I come to lightly … and it is one I make with some sadness,” Senator Obama said at a news conference after campaign officials released a letter of resignation he sent to the church on Friday.

“I’m not denouncing the church and I’m not interested in people who want me to denounce the church,” he said, adding that the new pastor at Trinity and “the church have been suffering from the attention my campaign has focused on them.”

Senator Obama said he and his wife have been discussing the issue since Rev. Wright’s appearance at the National Press Club in Washington last month, which reignited the furor over remarks Rev.Wright had made in various sermons at the church.

“I suspect we’ll find another church home for our family,” Senator Obama said.

“It’s clear that now that I’m a candidate for president, every time something is said in the church by anyone associated with Trinity, including guest pastors, the remarks will imputed to me even if they totally conflict with my long-held views, statements and principles,” he said.

“I have no idea how it will impact my presidential campaign but I know it was the right thing to do for me and my family,” he said.

“This was a pretty personal decision and I was not trying to make political theater out of it,” he added.

For months, Senator Obama has been hamstrung by the rhetoric of Rev. Wright, whose sermons blaming U.S. policies for the Sept. 11 attacks and calls of “God damn America” for its racism became fixtures on the Internet and cable news networks.

Initially, Senator Obama said he disagreed with Rev. Wright but portrayed him as a family member he couldn’t disown. The preacher had officiated at Senator Obama’s wedding, baptized his two daughters and been his spiritual mentor for some 20 years.

But six weeks after Senator Obama’s well-received speech on race, Rev. Wright claimed at the Press Club appearance that the American government was capable of planting AIDS in the black community, praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and suggested that Senator Obama was acting like a politician by putting his pastor at arm’s length while privately agreeing with him.

The next day, Senator Obama denounced Rev. Wright’s comments as “divisive and destructive.”

Remarks by Rev. Wright inflamed racial tensions and posed an unwanted problem for Senator Obama, front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, as he sought to wrap up the party’s nod.

More recently, racially charged remarks from the same pulpit by another pastor, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, kept the controversy alive and proved the latest thorn in Senator Obama’s side. As a guest speaker at Senator Obama’s church, Rev. Pfleger mocked Senator Obama’s rival, Senator Clinton.

Although SenatorObama condemned comments by both Rev. Wright and Rev. Pfleger, the controversy persisted.

Senator Obama made clear he wasn’t happy with Rev. Pfleger’s comments — in which the Catholic priest pretended he was Senator Clinton crying over “a black man stealing my show” — and said he was “deeply disappointed in Father Pfleger’s divisive, backward-looking rhetoric, which doesn’t reflect the country I see or the desire of people across America to come together in common cause.”

Rev. Pfleger issued an apology, saying he was sorry if his comments offended Senator Clinton or anyone else.

The timing of SenatorObama’s decision broke late Saturday, while most of the political attention was focused on the Democratic National Committee’s struggle to seat delegates from Florida and Michigan.

Senator McCain also has had his woes with religious leaders.

Earlier this month, Senator McCain rejected endorsements from two influential but controversial televangelists, saying there is no place for their incendiary criticisms of other faiths.

Senator McCain spurned the months-old endorsement of Texas preacher John Hagee after an audio recording surfaced in which the preacher said God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land. Senator McCain called the comment “crazy and unacceptable.”

He later repudiated the support of Rod Parsley, an Ohio preacher who has sharply criticized Islam and called the religion inherently violent.

“This was one I didn’t see coming,” Senator Obama said Saturday when he asked if he had anticipated the firestorm that would erupt over his relationship with Rev. Wright.