It's irteresting that the subject of liberation theology shoudl have come up below, since Monday marked the death of one of its founding fathers: Helder Camara, Archbishop of Recife. His obituary was in the New York Times. The New York Times article said that Archbishop Camara had struggled for such "brutal and atheistic' goals as land redistribution and universal education. He was rewarded for his efforts by having his house blown up; fortunately, he was out of the country at the time. On the subject of his theology, the Archbishop said, "When I gave food to the poor, they called me a saint. When i asked why they were poor, they called me a communist."
Even the conservative Pope John Paul stated that the Archbishop was "a friend of the poor, and therefore my friend". The Archbishop was persecuted by the right-wing dictatorship in Brazil, and was a voice for civil rights andfreedom as well as economic equality. He denied being a Marxist, but not on the grounds of it being anti-Christian; rather, he refused to be pigeoholed or bound by ties of loyalty to any party. He also criticized the tendency of the " " communist " " powers to be high-handed towards their neighbors.
Sometimes it has seemed to me that whevnevr anything good, true and beautiful has come into existence in the world there are those who can reliably be counted on the oppose it. For example, during teh early '50s in america the Amerindian chief Hiawatha was unpopular among the "establishment" because he had crusaded for peace among warring tribes, and apparently "peace" had by this time become a dirty word. (If you want the source on this, just ask me.) In a similar vein are the hatred towards civil rights for black people in the '60s; the reaction of southern planters towards abolitionism; the fight against child labor today.
Sophisticated arguments are always marshalled in favor of reaction, but in all these cases the moral merits of teh issue are plain to everyone's conscience. All of us are entitled to food, shelter, education, welfare. We have an equal and innate value as human beings that does not stem from our wealth, our family background, our educational level or our loyalty to a party or a Great Leader. We are entitled to the same civil, political, and spiritual freedoms as free and equal beings. Et cetera. Liberation theology synthesizes the best of the spiritual and the secular paths to salvation. As such, I can't imagine anything less worthy of reproach.
I mean, just look at the Bible, if that;'s your spiritual source. There is plenty of evidenc to tell us that the divine way is to love each other, not to behave selfishly, to share what we have, et cetera. My high school headmaster, an Episcopal Reverend, was more than clear on the specific behavior - the Greeks called it 'agape' that is expected of us. there is alsomore than sufficient evidence in teh Bible to tell us that whether or not such a state is achievable on earth (quiet probably not) there is no excuse for us not to try and behave as righteously towards our fellow men as possible, to try and establish the kingdom of heaven on earth. "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" says the Lord's Prayer that I recited several times a year.
This ig going on too long, so i will end here. Suffice it to say that liberation theology, for the reasons cited above, is above reproach, and that whatever excuses I have seen for not trying to establish a fair, just and equal society in the world leave me extremely skeptical. And whatever teh conservatives may say, their system can never "last forever", simply because the will towards good in the human soul is too strong.
- NJ
