[Rhodes22-list] Politics - Stan and Brad

[Brad Haslett]

Ed,

Yup!  It's a mix of Marxist dogma and victimization profit taking.  The good
Rev. Wright is moving into a new $1.6 million mansion.  So much for
eschewing "middleclassness".  Either liberation theology pays well or he's
financing his new diggs the same way Barry and Michelle did theirs. The
O-man is going to talk tough to the bullies of the world but listens to 20+
years of white hating, anti-Semitic, anti-American rants, donates money to
the organization, and exposes his kids to this crap - but doesn't say squat
to the leader.  Yeah, he's one tough SOB. Other than watching this thing
unfold just for fun it's already getting boring.  Obama is toast, he'll be
lucky to get re-elected to the Senate.  Move along folks nothing to see
here!

Brad

On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 6:48 PM, Tootle <ekroposki at charter.net> wrote:

>
> 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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