tbvanbelle@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Terry Van Belle) (11/30/89)
In article <Nov.28.23.25.34.1989.24911@athos.rutgers.edu> smith_c@ncsatl.uucp writes: >At least, for me, the very idea combining >biblical and marxist themes to manufacture revolutionary class struggles in >pursuit of social justice turns my stomach. . . . >Communism is a political system which >seeks to destroy religion and it is for this reason that anyone who propogates >a system which seeks to destroy religion sins against God. I'm not really too keen on Liberation Theology, mainly for the reason you gave about it putting the cart before the horse, but I think you're not seeing the woods for the trees here. Marxism seeks to achieve social justice by reducing the power of those who exploit the working class. The reason Marxism/Communism seeks to destroy Christianity is that, in Marx's time the Church was seen to be one of the major exploiters of the working class & enemies of social justice. Regretfully, there was more truth to that charge than there should have been. In many modern day Latin American countries, there is a similar political situation, with rich landowners exploiting the poorer majority. The Church there has also gotten the reputation of encouraging these natives not to do anything to improve their lot. This is seen as the Church taking the side of the landowners & intentionally making sure the rich get richer & the poor get poorer, thus opposing social justice. What Liberation Theologians try to do is show that the Church is not an enemy of social justice, but one of its vehicles. The byproduct of this is that the Church, far from deserving elimination, should be commended & encouraged. In Latin American countries where landowners exploit the workers, the most obvious way to achieve social justice is to reduce the power of the landowners & give it back to the people. Marxist? Maybe, but it gets results. Now the big dilemma comes from whether it is allowable to achieve social justice through violence. Any comments? Terry Van Belle tbvanbelle@watcgl.Waterloo.edu ...!watmath!watcgl!tbvanbelle