Note to conservatives — Be advised. The pope is the third rail.
New Economic Perspectives
Murdoch Warns Pope Francis about Ecuador’s President Correa
William K. Black | Associate Professor of Economics and Law, UMKC
Monday, July 13, 2015
Bill Black — Murdoch Warns Pope Francis about Ecuador’s President Correa
Note to conservatives — Be advised. The pope is the third rail.
New Economic Perspectives
Murdoch Warns Pope Francis about Ecuador’s President Correa
William K. Black | Associate Professor of Economics and Law, UMKC
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2 comments:
Tom c'mon the protestants/evangelicals are probably thinking "I told you so...." they are probably looking at this as an opportunity to put the hard sell and get some Catholics to come over to their sect.....
No doubt, Matt. But many Catholics are going to line up behind the pope.
However, that's not really the point.
Conservatives are already attacking Islam and if they attack Catholicism too, add up the numbers. There's not much that's more volatile than religion.
Btw, this relates to Greece, too, a point that Putin has already made. Greece is a Byzantine Orthodox culture whose traditional ties lie East rather than West. Same with Serbia and other nations with dominant Orthodox populations or large ethnic contingents.
A "clash of civilizations" is developing along historical lines. It need not be this way, since human nature and the human condition are universal in foundational respects. But if the focus turns to emphasizing differences, then that clash will occur, and it has already started with a vengeance.
Interest politics is based on exploiting differences. This is the dominant policy of the West. Moreover, The Western view is based on a false premise of exceptionalism and supremacy. This is evident on the attack on Greece, for example. It also divides northern and southern Europeans, and eastern and western Europeans, in addition to the Global North that is predominantly white and the Global South that is predominantly non-white in the eyes of the Global North.
The pope has framed this incipient struggle and revolution — Rerum Novarum means "revolution" in Latin — in terms of different visions of the teaching of Jesus, focusing in particular on social justice rather than "salvation." In fact, the pope is linking social justice and salvation, injustice being sinful. If you want to be a good disciple of the Lord, you must practice social justice. It's not optional.
This is crucial now in that the pope is moving to replace Marxism-Leninism with Catholic social teaching that is more radical than the social teaching of the past that identified with bourgeois values to avoid Communism.
That's over. The pope has embraced liberation theology. This is a big deal and the right knows it. They are going to have to figure out how to marginalize the pope not only among those who are more or less open to it but those who are not, without overstepping their bounds and attacking him. They don't have a good record of holding back. As the heat turns up, we'll see what happens.
This puts the revolution on a new footing entirely. It's now "respectable" — for those who don't equate the pope with Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. It's going to be difficult to make that connection. But the attempt will be made.
BTW, the same thing is going on in Islam. Western propaganda as pretty well obscured the fact that the "terrorists" are freedom fighters seeking to liberate their people and carry out a political reformation in light of their understanding of Islamic teaching.
The renaissance of political Christian and political Islam is a big deal. The Islamists are framing it in terms of the religious duty of Muslims. Notice that the pope is also doing this for Christians.
Battle lines are being drawn.
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