A Marxist theology. First criticism of Liberation Theology

Authors:
José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri
www.morochos.net

The Liberation Theology is a political theory born in Latin America, linked to part of the Catholic and evangelical hierarchy that seek to address poverty mixing Christian and Socialists concepts.

For the theologians of liberation, capitalism is a "social sin" guilty for the poverty that afflicts the world. For them, this economic system is the cornerstone of poverty, so we can't solve inequality until we replace capitalism.

In the Liberation Theology, capitalism's classes -bourgeois and proletarian- prevent the realization of a world of equals. Furthermore, "imperialism" of the developed world on the developing world destroy any chance of escaping poverty in the exploited regions.

For that reason, according to the Liberation Theologians, Christians must take the "class struggle" and fight on the side of the oppressed to dismantle capitalism -even using violence if necessary- However, this message is closer to Marx than to Christ, because Jesus never spoke of "capitalism", "class struggle"or "imperialism", and much less to carry out violent revolutions, as Marx did.

We can highlight in the Liberation Theology its concern about poverty and its desire for a more equal world, but this can also be recognized in Marxism -theoretically- The problem is that both ideologies fail in the proposed solutions. For example, fomenting the class struggle is as sponsoring racism, because these ideas have incited hate and violence in the societies where they have been promoted.

Another problem with the theology of liberation is that, in practice, it has encouraged the active participation of Catholic priests and evangelical pastors in anti-democratic governments. Such was the case during the communist regime in Nicaragua -Sandinism- and the current Venezuelan government.

Under the socialist administration of Sandinista National Liberation Front in Nicaragua, several pastors and priests, followers of this theology, manipulated dozens of religious communities making them believe that the Jesus' teachings can be achieved in Marxist revolutions. Thus were born groups such as "Christians for the Revolution," "The People's Church" and "Revolutionary Parishes”. Movements that for one side spoke of Christ and the poor, but that on the other justified the establishment of a Communist dictatorship that violates human rights.

With regard to Venezuela, we have the issue of the Reformist Catholic Church, a Venezuelan religious sect born under the auspices of the Hugo Chavez's government and linked to the liberation theology movement. This congregation professes socialism, chavism and Christianity as complementary concepts.

For these reasons we argue that the theology of liberation is a Marxist theology, inconvenient to the true Church, because in theory and in practice its slogan of "opting for the poor" really means "choosing the radical left".

Related articles:

- Obama's victory will give a blow to the Latin leftism

- The invasion of Georgia and the leftists' double standards

- Is Barack Obama a socialist?