[PEN-L:4720] Re: Religious social justice

[BILL MITCHELL <ECWFM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Robert Peter Burns (now that is a scottish name)

anyway Robert suggests that

>I think that despite their many weaknesses and failures, the mainstream
Christian churches in the USA, stand considerably to the
left--not left enough, true--but still _left_ of the average
American voter.

[deletions]

>Jesuits were on the radical, anti-IMF
side at the recent NGO parallel conference to the UN meeting
on poverty in Copenhagen.  Anglicans have been in the forefront of
the battele to rid Britain of Thatcherism, and have earned
the undying enmity of the Tories for their trouble.

>The Catholic Church
in France has been in the lead in homeless advocacy.  So there
 _are_ examples of principled opposition to the rule of capital
in church circles, and of course, examples of weak-kneed,
craven capitulation.

maybe all of that is so, but the institution of the church is still
conservative and anti-revolutionary. they have large property
holdings which serve little purpose other than to self-aggrandise the
clerics. if they really wante to help the poor the RC church would sell of
all their bourgeoise art work to the toffs for billions.

and morevoer, the RC church is a bastion of sexism. to have succesful social
change 50 per cent of the population cannot be excluded or assigned secondary
roles. the churches stand on contraception and abortion is not only sexist, but
it also environmetnally irresponsible.

so i agree that some of the priests say things about the material ravages of
capitalist on the poor, but at the higher level they are so clogged up with
anti-life dogma that they reinforce the conservatives. except for some of the
liberationist theologians in S American, the churches line to the peasants who
are oppressed and impoverished is that  it is god's will and HE will take care
of them in the later life. so that is just an apology for on-going capitalist
inequality.

and one can hardly forget the role played by the RC church (straight from the
Vatican) in the Second World War as a stooge for Hitler and Mussilini.

So i think some of you guys might be thinking progressively, albeit in narrow
confines (restricted by the ultiamte view that humanity is secondary to god and
we are born miserable sinners), but the institition you belong to is wealthy
and powerful and coerces individual freedom.

BTW robert, we had a debate about papal economics a while back - have a read of
the archives.

anyway like the pope, that is my Easter Message from the Mount.

kind regards
bill
*******************************************************************************
 William F. Mitchell            Telephone: +61-49-215027      .-_|\
 Department of Economics                   +61-49-705133     /     \    about
 The University of Newcastle    Fax:       +61-49-216919     \.--._/*<-- here
 Callaghan   NSW  2308                                            v
 Australia                      Email : ecwfm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 World Wide Web Home Page: http://econ-www.newcastle.edu.au/~bill/billyhp.html
*******************************************************************************