You think there's no such thing as a progressive religious theology?

I'm reading Leonoardo & Coldovis Boff's Introducing Liberation Theology. In chapter two, the Boffs argue that popular theology is oral, not written, and it flows from the bottom up, not the top down.

The Boffs describe a latin american gospel study group on the Apocalypse which prepared their morning prayer by devising a silhouette of a dragon with seven heads confronting a wounded lamb. The group invited its members to give names to the dragon's seven heads. Men and women came forward and wrote, as best they could: "multinationals," "Law and National Security," "foreign debt," "military dictatorshipt," and names of various government officials held to be against the people. And below the lamb someone wrote: "Jesus Christ, Liberator." And a woman came forward and added: "the people of the poor."

The Boffs call this an anonymous and collective theology with its own strength and truth -- a theology with real remedies.

This book was first published in Brazil in 1986. It describes ideas that were percolating up twenty or more years ago. It is any surprise that barely literate people who were able to so precisely identify the source of their problems have now elected people like Lula their leaders?

I believe that Pope John Paul II was authorizing then Cardinal Ratzinger to shut these priests out of the official Catholic church during the 80's. As if that could destroy an organic religious movement.

On the surface they were often attacking the use of violence by Christians, but in truth liberation theology was a real threat to the authority of the Catholic church.

so there must be something good about it.

From Wikipedia:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_theology#Official_condemnation

or with human experience.

"clergy tempted by social and political action" = clergy who get who Jesus was

the opression of the government, corporations,etc being replaced the opressions of religion is not really progressive, it is just a substitution. IMO.

especially when the religion is fear based (yer going to hell when you die if you dont do what we say), exclusionary (Ours is the only true way), and condemning of those who choose not to belief in its myths and fairy tales (hundred of millions murdered).

maybe if a religon was fact based, provable, and the practitioners only applied it to themselves instead of using it to justify
awful crimes against humanity, it could be called progressive.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

Here are Brazilians in '86 and earlier who could identify exactly the source of their oppression. Where were they having these discussions? In a PRAYER GROUP. What did they do with these ideas? They grew up to vote for Lula.

Is Lula brining them an oppressive religious state? Not the last time I checked. He's bringing them a government which responds to the needs of the poor and to people who work. Same in Venezuela.

That's progress.

these people aren't asking for a religious government. They're asking for a government that responds to the poor, that doesn't transfer authority to multinational corporations, and that doesn't use fear and national insecurity to force people to sacrifice social justice.

Do you think that if they had secular governments that did all those things, then they'd suddenly be criticizing them for not letting the priests run society?

As far as I know, poor Catholics in Brazil and Venezuela have not created a neoliberation theology which criticizes Lula and Chavez for not turning the government over to the Church.

...that conservatives don't own the whole religion game, and that progressives can play along too, taking what might merely be good political satire and turning it into Religious Revelation. Our enemies aren't just bad guys, their apocolyptic beasts!

We'll have none of this top-down religious manipulation to oppress the people. We demand grassroots self-delusion, built from the bottom up on the basis of an egalitarian model of mutual collaboration and contribution! ;-)

A New Reformation : Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594771235/qid=1140374888/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-7440314-2404137?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1585420670.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585420670/qid=1140374676/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-7440314-2404137?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Friends of Creation Spirituality
http://www.matthewfox.org/sys-tmpl/door/

Wisdom University
http://www.wisdomuniversity.org

who is a Maryknoll priest, named Father Roy Bourgeois. They don't get much better than him. Oh, and I am one of the atheist religion bashers here on DU, too, but my hat is off to this incredible guy. The book about him is called "Disturbing the Peace: The Story of Father Roy Bourgeois and the Movement to Close the School of the Americas". A great book that also got PISSED me off, too. You will never hear about guys/gals like this and if you do I am sure they are being marginalized.



<snip>
New! Book: Disturbing the Peace: The Story of Father Roy Bourgeois and the Movement to Close the School of the Americas

by Linda Cooper and James Hodge The inspiring journey of a prophetic priest and the campaign to close the Army school responsible for training dictators and death squad leaders.

Maryknoll priest Roy Bourgeois has achieved national attention for leading the campaign to close the U.S. Army School of the Americas. From his Cajun roots in Louisiana to his stint as a Naval officer in Viet Nam, we follow the route that led Bourgeois to Maryknoll and his work in Latin America that awakened his conscience to the U.S. role in supporting oppression there.

Since 1990 Father Bourgeois has campaigned against the School. He has served several years in federal prisons for civil disobedience and his witness has turned a spotlight on a record of shame and aroused the conscience of the nation. The protest every November attracts more than 10,000 people from around the country.

“An astonishing chronicle . . . on a deeper and even more profound level, this book describes the evolution and journey of a soul from conversion to re-conversion, from prayer and contemplation to heroic action, all in a continuous effort to unite the will of the spirit to the work of the flesh.” —-Martin Sheen, from the Foreword

“From the first pages of Disturbing the Peace you will be hooked . . . . Roy Bourgeois and I are soul mates—both Cajuns from Louisiana, both Catholics putting our faith into action—but I still found plenty of surprises here. I am delighted at last to have this account of an amazing spiritual journey.” —-Sister Helen Prejean, author, Dead Man Walking
<snip>

http://www.soaw.org/new/print_article.php?id=861

I ran for congress in 1990 as a result of the SOA involvment in the murder of the six El Salvadoran Jesuit priests. Our US Congressman kept on insisting on funding for the SOA, so I ran against him and got 42% of the vote. What's more important, he changed his stance on the SOA! Many of my supporters, were and are stong adherants of Liberation Theology!