By Dr. James Ricks
Liberation Theology was vaulted to news prominence when presidential candidate, Barrack Obama's former Pastor, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, decried that it was the basis for his controversial theology. The concepts developed in the fifties and sixties were a combination of Christianity and Marxist Communism. It was developed by intellectual, humanist priests in Central America to address income poverty. Many intellectuals still believed in Communism at that time, for the redress of the poor, and still do. At its inception, Liberation Theology combined the most important and emotion-packed elements of Latin American culture, nationalism, opposition to the United States, and revolution.
It is a form of Christian Socialism and had a lot influence in Latin America. In the 1980’s its adherents was harshly admonished by Pope John II. Some believe that Liberation Theology met its demise as a result of the failure of Communism in Nicaragua and El Salvador in the late 1980’s. Before its decline, in Central America the concepts found a home among some Black American Theologians.
Pastor Wright stated on Fox News that his theology was primarily based on the work of James Cone. James Cone grew up in the South after desegregation was first ordered. He noted bias among white Christians. Eventually Cone developed a “black theology” of liberation which he thought would foster freedom from oppression, racism, and poverty. Cone argued that the white church and white theologians had all failed in their duties to uphold biblical principles of helping the poor and marginalized of society.
His Black Liberation Theology was based primarily on opposing racism but ALSO includes faucets of Marxism as well, such as Anti-Americanism, and Socialism from an Afro-Centric point of view. Although Cone’s most obvious target was racism, his message was actually much broader. He criticized middle-class black churches as well as whites. His own version of class warfare is included in the Marxist Theology. These Marxist, Anti-American sentiments are buttressed by an over emphasis on the negatives of American history without noting the many positive accomplishments. This OVERLY negative emphasis of the American experience is the gateway to increased bitterness.
Communism cannot help the poor because it harms any economy it attempts to run by government bureaucrats. The workers have no incentive toward industriousness. Private ownership is forbidden. The absolute power of the dictator corrupts the system. Absolute power corrupts absolutely! The leaders of a Communist government not only have a political dictatorship but also control all the economic power in the name of the people. They have total power. The Black Book of Communism, details how these leaders murdered over 100 million of their own people. Marxism entails a faulty view of justice
The Marxists mistakenly believe that justice is synonymous with equality. It is not. Justice is not having the same as your neighbor, regardless of differences in skill, investment, effort, ownership, worth and chance. Nor is justice the same as confiscating the personal property of some in order to give it to those who have no moral or legal claim upon it. Justice is not synonymous with either equality or coercive redistribution. Justice is having what is rightfully yours by inheritance, by hard work, by legal purchase and by good fortune (Griffiths, p. 78). Marxism entails a faulty view of Human Motivation
Most people are unable to make the painstaking, difficult and risky evaluations that are necessary to access the possibilities for success or failure of an entrepreneurial enterprise without the profit motive. Investment capital cannot be accumulated except from the profits of prior endeavors. In a low-efficiency system that Marxism creates, where profits are small, workers will be unwilling to work harder to raise a company’s profit margin or to take on intensified deprivation to fund future endeavors that are not likely to be successful, or, if they are successful, will not yield profits to them. When private property rights disappear, the entrepreneurial spirit is much diminished as well. Incentive is tied to private ownership.
Marxism entails a faulty view of wealth production Marxists seem to focus more on equal distribution of wealth than the effective production of wealth. They seem not to understand that one cannot redistribute what has not been produced. If a country’s system of production does not create, then no matter how you attempt to divide what you have, the economic status of the nation will not be raised.
God relied on changing the hearts of people by requiring voluntary giving. The giving to the needy was not handled by a vast central government. The giving was voluntary. The giving to the needy and widows was an act of worship. God would reward them. It was not government redistribution of income. God owns everything and is the ultimate source of all blessings. God wishes to change of hearts of men. Liberation Theology is dangerous because advocating violence to obtain social justice could result in a bloodbath. Millions of innocent people could be killed by uncontrolled violence. Secondly, the acceptance of Liberation Theology will almost certainly hurt Christianity. History shows that Marxism, happy for ecclesiastical support before a revolution, turns against religion afterwards because it is based on atheistic concepts.
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