It is inconceivable to me that on issues not involving the fairly declarative Ten Commandments, anyone would skew the Hebrew Scriptures or the New Testament into something that fits their partisan political point of view. And as far as the Ten Commandments go, there’s more than a little of the old coveting in the subtext of this latest nonsense from the utterly shameless Washington Post:
Christmas means the redistribution of wealth …
The concept of society’s structural sin that is suggested in Pauline teaching was crystallized in the theology of liberation when it appeared among Latin American theologians after the II Vatican Council. Based on a socio-economic secular analysis of history in secular academia, theologians like Father Gustavo Gutierrez spoke of structural sin. Upholding an unjust political and economic system would only perpetuate injustice, they argued. Good people could be trapped into a web of doing bad things because society fostered a way of acting that normalized immoral behavior.
Detractors have caricatured Liberation Theology as advocating violent revolution against White capitalists. In contrast, based on the Just War Theory, theology restricted violence to a response against violent attack, reasoning that self-defense is legitimate when measured by the countervailing force trying to take away human life and liberty. (The Declaration of Independence was founded on that same principle: armed revolution in defense of God-given rights is “as American as apple pie.”)
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour’s.
I must’ve missed the asterisk in the tenth commandment and the small print at the bottom the of the tablet that reads:
Excepteth for thy neighbour’s hard-earned wealth that thouest big government may taketh by force to redistributeth amongst those who don’t worketh as hardeth.
Tim Graham of the MRC completely deconstructs the WaPo article’s spin regarding Pope Benedict being in favor of wealth distribution, Obama-style: [emphasis original]
But the Pope’s document isn’t primarily about the maldistribution of wealth, but about the necessity of educating young people into carrying out the Church’s message of peace and justice on Earth through a civilization of love, which is not the same as a Marxist utopia. He does speak of “adequate mechanisms” for the “redistribution of wealth,” but also for “the promotion of growth” and development of poorer nations.
In order to be true peacemakers, we must educate ourselves in compassion, solidarity, working together, fraternity, in being active within the community and concerned to raise awareness about national and international issues and the importance of seeking adequate mechanisms for the redistribution of wealth, the promotion of growth, cooperation for development and conflict resolution.
The Pope quotes the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which must offend Stevens-Arroyo with its mention of safeguarding people’s goods: “Peace cannot be attained on earth without safeguarding the goods of persons, free communication among men, respect for the dignity of persons and peoples, and the assiduous practice of fraternity.”
How do you create Christians through the depraved and immoral act of taking something that doesn’t belong to you by force? Is the taker acting in a Christian manner? Is the victim of the taker going to see the light? Furthermore, you sure don’t create Christians by addicting those of sound mind and body to the dark art of getting something for nothing.
Jesus didn’t force anyone to act in a Christian manner when it came to charity or anything else. People promoting “redistribution,” which has never empowered anything other than the government, are closer to Caesar than Christ.
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