Friday, May 11, 2007
Pacifica Commentary For May 9, 2007
The Pope Goes To Brazil
Major media is covering the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Brazil. The media consistently mentions the threat of liberation theology and the efforts made by the Vatican to stamp it out.
But as usual, the commercial media just does not get it.
Rumors of the demise of liberation theology are premature. Journalists should reflect on the fact that Jesus was born long before Marx and that Marx was probably influenced by Jesus. Pick up your New Testament and read the Acts of the Apostles:"The faithful all lived together and owned everything in common; they sold their goods and possessions and shared out the proceeds among themselves according to what each one needed." Acts 2, 44
History can clarify the situation. Back in the fourth century when the Emperor Constantine called the Council of Nicaea, on the Turkish coast, and paid the way for the attending bishops, imperial theology was born. The emperor had granted an Edict of Toleration to the Christians. In return we witness the emergence of imperial theology.
The sword and the cross came together in building the empire, in the crusades, the inquisition, the conquistadors and the contemporary "Christian" war mongers who can be cheer leaders for a filthy and ongoing holocaust in Iraq. Liberation theology is simply an effort to dissolve the heretical imperial theology which has tainted Christianity for centuries. Making war in the name of Jesus is heresy.
Jesus firmly embraced a preferential option for the poor. The Church must do the same.
80,000 base communities of liberation theology will reverently listen to the Pope when he visits Brazil. They will show love, honor and respect for his role. However nothing and no one will ever stop them from practicing the democracy of the base community which is the democracy of the Acts of the Apostles.
The method of the base community is to first observe a situation, next to make a collective judgment about the situation and finally to enter in a praxis or reflective action.
It is this kind of collective wisdom together with the fact that the empire is busy destroying the cradle of civilization in Iraq that has made it possible for the people of this hemisphere to enter into a definitive arc of liberation.
As in the case of Galileo and practically every other new concept, the Vatican, in time will begin to understand what the Spirit is doing. Both our political and church leaders must learn how to follow an enlightened people.
Please be sure to listen to WORLD FOCUS at 10:00 AM on Sunday, my guests will be Dr. Dahlia Wasfi who testified at a Congressional Forum giving an account of life in Iraq and Nativo Lopez, National President of the Mexican American Political Association.
Major media is covering the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Brazil. The media consistently mentions the threat of liberation theology and the efforts made by the Vatican to stamp it out.
But as usual, the commercial media just does not get it.
Rumors of the demise of liberation theology are premature. Journalists should reflect on the fact that Jesus was born long before Marx and that Marx was probably influenced by Jesus. Pick up your New Testament and read the Acts of the Apostles:"The faithful all lived together and owned everything in common; they sold their goods and possessions and shared out the proceeds among themselves according to what each one needed." Acts 2, 44
History can clarify the situation. Back in the fourth century when the Emperor Constantine called the Council of Nicaea, on the Turkish coast, and paid the way for the attending bishops, imperial theology was born. The emperor had granted an Edict of Toleration to the Christians. In return we witness the emergence of imperial theology.
The sword and the cross came together in building the empire, in the crusades, the inquisition, the conquistadors and the contemporary "Christian" war mongers who can be cheer leaders for a filthy and ongoing holocaust in Iraq. Liberation theology is simply an effort to dissolve the heretical imperial theology which has tainted Christianity for centuries. Making war in the name of Jesus is heresy.
Jesus firmly embraced a preferential option for the poor. The Church must do the same.
80,000 base communities of liberation theology will reverently listen to the Pope when he visits Brazil. They will show love, honor and respect for his role. However nothing and no one will ever stop them from practicing the democracy of the base community which is the democracy of the Acts of the Apostles.
The method of the base community is to first observe a situation, next to make a collective judgment about the situation and finally to enter in a praxis or reflective action.
It is this kind of collective wisdom together with the fact that the empire is busy destroying the cradle of civilization in Iraq that has made it possible for the people of this hemisphere to enter into a definitive arc of liberation.
As in the case of Galileo and practically every other new concept, the Vatican, in time will begin to understand what the Spirit is doing. Both our political and church leaders must learn how to follow an enlightened people.
Please be sure to listen to WORLD FOCUS at 10:00 AM on Sunday, my guests will be Dr. Dahlia Wasfi who testified at a Congressional Forum giving an account of life in Iraq and Nativo Lopez, National President of the Mexican American Political Association.
