Liberation Theology vs. Victoria Jackson

I know I shouldn't keep picking on the lowest common denominator but they just keep on appearing on cable news talking about politics and religion. We first had Chuck Norris talking about violently leaving the country and taking Texas with him and now Victoria Jackson is talking about Liberation Theology and Obama's supposed marxism.

Jackson denounces Obama as a socialist because of his church which embraced Liberation Theology. Hannity is there by her side helpfully affirming that she is right that Black Liberation Theology is socialist. What a strange world when the main spokespeople for liberation theology are Jackson and Hannity - two white, wealthy conservatives.

It reminds me of when I went to seminary and first encountered black liberation theology by taking classes with one of its main proponents - Dr. James Cone. For those of you who would rather not learn your theology and politics from comedians, James Cone's book A Theology of Black Liberation looks at the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the explicit perspective of the experience of black Americans. When the Gospel is approached from the view from a people who have suffered the most brutal experience of slavery and racism the Gospel looks different. When someone who has been systematically beaten down for centuries reads Jesus' words in Luke 4 they sound different:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free.

The more one reads the Gospel from this point of view the more clear it is that God loves all people but sides with the oppressed in struggles for justice. Need more proof, look at the sermon on the mount in Luke.

When I got to Union Seminary as an upper middle class white male I had to come to grips with the fact that my experience of comfort and ease that the world afforded me was only enjoyed by a small percentage of the worlds' population. Furthermore, the privilege I so casually took for granted was made possible through the suffering of others. My conversion experience happened when I became convicted that if I was to become a serious Christian I needed to be in solidarity with all of the people of the world, not just the few at the top. That I must truly love all my neighbors as myself and that meant letting go of some of my own privilege. That I should live simply so that others might simply live. That Justice was, as Cornel West puts it, what love looks like in public.

This is the essence of liberation theology - it is about justice and love for all people and not fear mongering and silliness. We are in a time when millions are out of work and out of homes because of the greed of unchecked and unwatched capitalism. What our president is trying to do is not socialism, it is trying to help as many people get through this disastrous economic time with as little suffering and as much dignity as possible. Sounds Christian to me.

Comments

[Epiphany2b]

To Oregonbird: Although this is probably not the place to make this point, It is time for you to go read the words of Paul about circumcision again, and read the whole thing regardless of how wordy he gets. Paul is arguing AGAINST what you claim he is saying, because the Jewish leaders at the time expected the Christians to submit themselves to the Jewish custom of circumcision. Paul's point was that it is not the outward physical act of circumcision that matters, but the inner "circumcision of the heart" that is important.

[Figural]

Trying to help people get through hard times with as much dignity and as little suffering as possible, is a human value as old as humanity itself. It doesn't arise from or depend on, religious belief.

[plaidsportcoat]

That is, if you believe in God, which is a very huge if.

[Reesej]

Amen!!!! That is how children of God should see what the Obama administration is trying to do. Everyone one should try to live their lives as Jesus did whether they consider themselves religious or not. The foundations of all the world's major religions are based on these ideals. Even some athiest live their lives by these ideals. How ironic that they deny the life and presence of something so great when their lives are led by it, although indirectly.

[Estreet1964]

Ease up on poor Victoria. Her views are so inane that going after her about them is akin to attacking an infant with a machete. It's just too easy.

[marinara]

its time to open up a can of christian whup ass on these right wing phonies

[jorge4u]

Rev. Raushenbush,

Great article. I too went to the seminary (Catholic) and left two years before ordination. In my senior year in the seminary college, I did my senior project on Liberation Theology and Catholic Social Justice and how these two intertwined. In the process, I got to meet a couple of proponents of Liberation Theology. It was probably the best experience I've had so far.

[lgillooly]

As a Catholic I totally agree. The Gospels of Christ tell me to follow Obama's policies over the Christian Right. It infuriates me when they use Christ to set forth an agenda that would make Christ cry in shame. Also, they love to use verbage from the Old Testament to justify their hate, but Christ is in the New Testament. No one ever brings that up.

[oregonbird]

And as a catholic -- if you are following the strictures etc. -- you are monitarily, verbally and socially supporting the church's rulings . You do not use birth control, you support their contention that women are secondary to men, and that accepting abuse -- and the abuse of your children -- will be rewarded in heaven, and such treatment must not be challenged. Your tithes have gone to support the transfers and lifestyles of pedophile priests. They have been used to pay attorneys to harrass and deny compensation to tho victims of those priests. You listen every week -- you DO attend church every week, right? -- to the screed of a madman, St. Paul, and while you choose not to hold adulterers, money-changers and rebellious children to the punishment he declared god demanded -- death -- you accept his xenophobic and anti-semetic tirades as gospel. Of course, one group Paul never declared worthy of death was homosexuals. Not surprising given that he habitually travelled with various young male companion.

My all-time favorite? Paul declares that any man who is circumcised is denied entry to heaven, and will, in fact, go directly to hell. Funny how that passage never comes up during the readings, huh? I find it useful to think of Paul as his century's Limbaugh.

Ex-catholic, ex-christian, ex-faith based life. Give me ethics everytime.

[MSB]

As long as people as shockingly foolish as Victoria Jackson are representing the 'right', the left will have nothing to worry about.

[LMPE]

I originally learned of Victoria Jackson when I watched "Weird Al" Yankovic's movie "UHF" (she played his lover). I suspect that it completely embarrasses Weird Al that he ever knew this harpy.

[MelFamy]

Are we certain that Victoria wasn't pulling Hannity's leg? If she is that seriously ignorant, we need for her to be highly visible, making inane statements in that horrid voice. With Ms. Jackson as a spokesperson for the republicans, the dems reign will rival that of the Ashoka Empire in terms of longevity.­.

[RitaBallou]

Unfortunately she IS serious. Check out her website.

[standard]

"What our president is trying to do is not socialism, it is trying to help as many people get through this disastrous economic time with as little suffering and as much dignity as possible. Sounds Christian to me."

Actually, it's possible for acts to be theologically Christian and economically socialist, both at the same time. In fact, those may be the very best kind of acts.

Not everything socialist is bad: public universities (which we have) and universal healthcare (which the rest of the industrialized Free World has, and we need) are forms of socialism. So are public golf courses--and you never hear Republicans complain about them. When public resources and private resources are allowed to compete fairly, we all win.

By having a progressive income tax system and enacting government programs that assist the financially least of our brothers and sisters (especially programs that lead to education, jobs and housing), we distribute as fairly as possible the burden of being charitable. Charitable giving isn't somehow confined to what's tax-deductible and voluntary: some of it--perhaps the most-effective part--starts with tax revenues raised involuntarily. For New Zealand, Japan and Western Europe--comfortable democracies with socialist aspects to their market economies--this has worked rather well. It can work just as well for us, here.

Christian and socialist aren't opposites any more than Christian and Red Sox fan or Christian and Democrat are. It's high time more of us grasped that.

[Gidster]

For 30 years the Neo-Cons have been pushing this insane Ayn Rand capitalism as their actual platform. One that punishes charitable thought and deeds.
It is unsustainable.

[oregonbird]

My mom had me reading Rand when I was ten. Great stories, and I got nothing of the neo-con rexplanation out of her work. I felt very powerful and capable of effect after reading The Fountainhead. My reading was that the individual was as important as any group or state, and that it was absolute truth that no group or state would ever accept that. And round and round we go. The fundamental imbalance could not be fixed -- anything after that, any solution that the author proposed -- that was where the fantasy came in. What, I was wrong?

I have noticed that every conservative that brings Rand into the debate does not know how to pronounce her name. And they'd be lost if anyone asked what her true name was, or for a thumbnail sketch of her background or her own, well-published philosophies!

[blaqntelligence]

Excellent comment, standard.
Excellent article, Rev. Raushenbush

[SharonWantsToTalk]

The likes of Victoria and Sean will never get it. But thank you for putting it so clearly for the rest of us.

[WorkingClass]

Excellent! Thank You.

[rascalish]

What a refreshing post. Well reasoned and informative. BTW-I agree....