Liberation Theology is in - should Yi be concerned?

[Admiral Yi]

I can live with that.

[Drakken]

Do you have a cite to anyone within the Liberation Theology movement who has ever preached the kill the rich version you say exists?

No one that I know of.

The problem with the Liberation Theology is what is means in reality : clergymen, officially under the name of the Church, cozying up with marxist and leftist resistance groups, which is something the Church has always been very adamant good, honest Catholics should never do. Now that Marxism is practically dead and has been replaced with a weird Latin-American kind of populist cesarism, the 'liberation theology' is a less acute problem except to the most conservative of theologians, which Benedict XVI certainly was THE most representative.

[Jacob]

I asked you what you thought it meant in the other thread, as it seems to mean anything from "be nice to poor people" to "take up arms and kill the rich."

The Wikipedia entry on Gutierrez is a good start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavo_Gutiérrez

Liberation theology originally developed as a Christian response to the conditions in which a great part of the Latin American population live. For Gutiérrez, the centre of the problem in Latin America is sin manifested in an unjust social structure. The theologian puts emphasis on the dignity of the poor.

[CountDeMoney]

Goddammit, sometimes I wish we haven't had 7 different servers for Languish, or we'd be able to find some nifty discussions on LT back in the day.

Although Liberation Theology has been around, particularly in the Americas, for some time Rome has given it a cold shoulder.

Fighting the injustices of left-wing/Communist/Soviet-supported oppression behind the Iron Curtain?  Johnny the Deuce has your back.
Fighting the injustices of right-wing/Fascist/U.S. supported oppression in Central and South America?  Abandoned and hung out to dry, like so many executed dead Jesuits and nuns.

John Paul II and his hypocrisy. 

[garbon]

I'm still confused. Why are we to be proponents of liberation theology?

You never would be, not in a thousand years

So a non-answer then?

[MadImmortalMan]

Huh. It seems I was only familiar with the term in the sense most discussed in these parts, which has not much at all to do with the Catholic Church or anything in Latin America and everything to do with James Cone. I learned some new churchification facts today.

[garbon]

Interesting. So far, this Pope Francis gets thumbs up from me.

Why is this move a positive?

Because it puts emphasis on the Catholic Church's social justice mission, which is one of the parts I approve of. It's a nice counterpoint to the social conservatism that has been the public face of Christianity these last few decades.

I read the bit that you noted in the separate thread but I'm not really sure I understand what that means. What does it mean to put an emphasis on the dignity of the poor?

edit:Actually I'll continue this here.

I'm not against the Church helping the poor but I'm not sure that I'm a big fan of religious organizations acting in overtly political fashions.

[crazy canuck]

Huh. It seems I was only familiar with the term in the sense most discussed in these parts, which has not much at all to do with the Catholic Church or anything in Latin America and everything to do with James Cone. I learned some new churchification facts today.

Interesting.  I didnt know who James Cone was, so I have learned something new today too 

[Jacob]

I'm still confused. Why are we to be proponents of liberation theology?

You never would be, not in a thousand years

So a non-answer then?

garbon, we already have a pretty strong track record on where you stand on issues of poverty and the poor. Is there really a need to go through your I've-got-mine-so-why-should-I-care shtick again? I mean, I posted a quick summary of liberation theology upthread and i find it very worthwhile. We know your response will be a carefully calibrated mixture of disinterested ridicule and dismissal.

[garbon]

I'm still confused. Why are we to be proponents of liberation theology?

You never would be, not in a thousand years

So a non-answer then?

garbon, we already have a pretty strong track record on where you stand on issues of poverty and the poor. Is there really a need to go through your I've-got-mine-so-why-should-I-care shtick again? I mean, I posted a quick summary of liberation theology upthread and i find it very worthwhile. We know your response will be a carefully calibrated mixture of disinterested ridicule and dismissal.

Actually I don't think you have a very strong record on where I stand on issues of poverty and the poor if you're referencing my shtick.

At any rate, as I may have intimated in my most recent post - I'm concerned about religious organizations acting in overtly political fashions as I've concerns about their pernicious effects.

Also, I would think it would be clear by now that when I ask earnest questions, I don't usually then leap into ridicule and dismissal.

[crazy canuck]

Actually I don't think you have a very strong record on where I stand on issues of poverty and the poor

Ok, I think this would be a good context in which you could share your views on the topic.

[Iormlund]

... I'm not sure that I'm a big fan of religious organizations acting in overtly political fashions.

When has the Catholic Church not acted in overtly political fashion?

[crazy canuck]

... I'm not sure that I'm a big fan of religious organizations acting in overtly political fashions.

When has the Catholic Church not acted in overtly political fashion?

Or any other religious organization for that matter

[CountDeMoney]

I'm concerned about religious organizations acting in overtly political fashions as I've concerns about their pernicious effects.

Lolz, like helping teh poors.

[Jacob]

Actually I don't think you have a very strong record on where I stand on issues of poverty and the poor if you're referencing my shtick.

We can only judge you on what you post. If you are concerned about poverty in any capacity beyond ensuring that no one mistakes you for being poor, it has not come across here even incidentally; at least not in my observation.

At any rate, as I may have intimated in my most recent post - I'm concerned about religious organizations acting in overtly political fashions as I've concerns about their pernicious effects.

I've never heard you express these reservations about the Catholic church before, and his is no more political than pretty much anything else it does. But fair enough. Still, I'd say that of all the things the Church could be political about, poverty and oppression are the most consistent with the core of Christ's message IMO.

Also, I would think it would be clear by now that when I ask earnest questions, I don't usually then leap into ridicule and dismissal.

I sometimes find it hard to distinguish between earnest questions and rhetorical put-downs on your part. Of course, I sometimes suffer from the same problem here...