[Rhodes22-list] Stan and Brad

[Arthur H. Czerwonky]

Guys,
We're slipping badly on the subject line, normally a gripe of Ed except when he is in the thick of it.  We shouldn't hide our 'Political' label on the subject line behind other 'topics' that creep in front.
Art

-----Original Message-----
>From: Tootle <ekroposki at charter.net>
>Sent: Mar 27, 2008 7:48 PM
>To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
>Subject: [Rhodes22-list]  Stan and Brad
>
>
>Stan,
>
>I will respond to your post next week...
>
>Brad,
>       Chris said, "we need a break from the political sniping and dogmatic
>suicide bombers of the political scene."  For Chris's request for a break, I
>will comply for a few days.  However, before I depart for a place without a
>computer, I will post the following educational piece:
>
>Black Liberation Is Marxist Liberation 
>By Anthony B. Bradley 
>
>One of the pillars of Obama's home church, Trinity United Church of Christ,
>is "economic parity." On the website, Trinity claims that God is not pleased
>with "America's economic mal-distribution." Among all of controversial
>comments by Jeremiah Wright the idea of massive wealth redistribution is the
>most alarming. The code language "economic parity" and references to
>"mal-distribution" is nothing more than channeling the twisted economic
>views of Karl Marx. Black liberation theologians have explicitly stated a
>preference for Marxism as an ethical framework for the black church because
>Marxist thought is predicated on a system of oppressor class (whites) versus
>victim class (blacks). 
>
>Black Liberation theologians James Cone and Cornel West have worked
>diligently to embed Marxist thought into the black church since the 1970s.
>For Cone, Marxism best addressed remedies to the condition of Blacks as
>victims of White oppression. In For My People, Cone explains that "the
>Christian faith does not possess in its nature the means for analyzing the
>structure of capitalism. Marxism as a tool of social analysis can disclose
>the gap between appearance and reality, and thereby help Christians to see
>how things really are." 
>
>In God of the Oppressed, Cone said that Marx's chief contribution is "his
>disclosure of the ideological character of bourgeois thought, indicating the
>connections between the 'ruling material force of society' and the 'ruling
>intellectual' force." Marx's thought is useful and attractive to Cone
>because it allows Black theologians to critique racism in America on the
>basis of power and revolution. 
>
>For Cone, integrating Marx into Black theology helps theologians see just
>how much social perceptions determine theological questions and conclusions.
>Moreover, these questions and answers are "largely a reflection of the
>material condition of a given society." 
>
>In 1979, Cornel West offered a critical integration of Marxism and Black
>theology in his essay, "Black Theology and Marxist Thought" because of the
>shared human experience of oppressed peoples as victims. West sees a strong
>correlation between Black theology and Marxist thought because "both focus
>on the plight of the exploited, oppressed and degraded peoples of the world,
>their relative powerlessness and possible empowerment." This common focus
>prompts West to call for "a serious dialogue between Black theologians and
>Marxist thinkers"--a dialogue that centers on the possibility of "mutually
>arrived-at political action." 
>
>In his book Prophesy Deliverance, West believes that by working together,
>Marxists and Black theologians can spearhead much-needed social change for
>those who are victims of oppression. He appreciates Marxism for its "notions
>of class struggle, social contradictions, historical specificity, and
>dialectical developments in history" that explain the role of power and
>wealth in bourgeois capitalist societies. A common perspective among Marxist
>thinkers is that bourgeois capitalism creates and perpetuates ruling-class
>domination--which, for Black theologians in America, means the domination
>and victimization of Blacks by Whites. American has been over run by "White
>racism within mainstream establishment churches and religious agencies,"
>writes West. 
>
>Perhaps it is the Marxism imbedded in Obama's attending Trinity Church that
>should raise red flags. "Economic parity" and "distribution" language
>implies things like government-coerced wealth redistribution, perpetual
>minimum wage increases, government subsidized health care for all, and the
>like. One of the priorities listed on Obama's campaign website reads, "Obama
>will protect tax cuts for poor and middle class families, but he will
>reverse most of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest taxpayers." 
>
>Black Liberation Theology, originally intended to help the black community,
>may have actually hurt many blacks by promoting racial tension, victimology,
>and Marxism which ultimately leads to more oppression. As the failed "War on
>Poverty" has exposed, the best way to keep the blacks perpetually enslaved
>to government as "daddy" is to preach victimology, Marxism, and seduce
>blacks into thinking that upward mobility is someone else's responsibility
>in a free society. 
>
>Anthony B. Bradley is a research fellow at the Acton Institute, and
>assistant professor of theology at Covenant Theological Seminary in St.
>Louis. His PhD dissertation is titled, "Victimology in Black Liberation
>Theology." 
>
>See ya all next week...
>
>Ed K
>Greenville, SC, USA
>And Good night...
>
>
>
>-- 
>View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/Thanks-Stan-tp16332514p16342546.html
>Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
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