Religion and Politics has always been a close couple , and always will be. So is Radical Liberation theology and practice as well as Revolutionary action in many places in the World. Especially Latin America. In 1857 , the Indian Mutiny was also fired by religious reaction against the Christian Firangis. Now with Deep Ecology, Spirit and Politics coming together we are going to get more and more of , what is being called Radical Ecological Democracy movements . And spiritualists , ecologists and community activists world-wide are now conversing , dreaming and acting on alternatives to the present Nation State-Religion impasse , that refuses to act creatively to deal with anything substantive for sustainability or spirit . A new kind of social-sustainability-spirituality process is emerging . And the Pope and Dalai Lama is involved , just as Gandhi was desiring a political practice inspired by the spirit and love of earth . The third way , beyond Capitalism and Communism is as alive as ever . The Brazilian theologist Leonardo Boff wrote: In a round table discussion about religion and freedom in which Dalai Lama and myself were participating at recess, I maliciously and also with interest, asked him: “Your holiness, what is the best religion?” I thought he would say: “The Tibetan Buddhism” or “The oriental religions, much older than Christianity.” The Dalai Lama paused, smiled and looked me in the eyes …. which surprised me because I knew of the malice contained in my question. He answered: “The best religion is the one that gets you closest to God. It is the one that makes you a better person.” To get out of my embarrassment with such a wise answer, I asked: “What is it that makes me better?” He responded: “Whatever makes you more compassionate, more sensible, more detached, more loving, more humanitarian, more responsible, more ethical.” “The religion that will do that for you is the best religion” I was silent for a moment, marveling and even today thinking of his wise and irrefutable response: “I am not interested, my friend, about your religion or if you are religious or not. “What really is important to me is your behavior in front of your peers, family, work, community, and in front of the world. “Remember, the universe is the echo of our actions and our thoughts.” “The law of action and reaction is not exclusively for physics. It is also of human relations. If I act with goodness, I will receive goodness. If I act with evil, I will get evil.” “What our grandparents told us is the pure truth. You will always have what you desire for others. Being happy is not a matter of destiny. It is a matter of options.” Finally he said: “Take care of your Thoughts because they become Words. Take care of your Words because they will become Actions. Take care of your Actions because they will become Habits. Take care of your Habits because they will form your Character. Take care of your Character because it will form your Destiny, and your Destiny will be your Life … and … “There is no religion higher than the Truth.” Leonardo Boff is a Brazilian theologian and writer, known for his active support for the rights of the poor and excluded. He currently serves as Professor Emeritus of Ethics, Philosophy of Religion and Ecology at the Rio de Janeiro State University. Born Genézio Darci Boff on 14 December 1938 in Concórdia, Santa Catarina, he entered the Franciscan Order in 1959 and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1964. He spent the following years studying for a doctorate in theology and philosophy at the University of Munich, which he received in 1970. Boffs doctoral thesis studied in what measure the Church can be a sign of the sacred and the divine in the secular world and in the process of liberation of the oppressed. He believes Among the many functions of theology today two are most urgent: how theology collaborates in the liberation of the oppressed, who are today’s “crucified Christs,” and how theology helps to preserve the memory of God so that we do not lose the sentiment and sacredness of human life which is threatened by a culture of superficiality, consumption and entertainment. We should always unite faith with justice, where a perspective of liberation is born, keeping the flame of our sacred lamp burning so that it can feed the hope for a better future for the Earth and all humanity. Boff became one of the best known supporters of the early Liberation theologians. He was present in the first reflections that sought to articulate indignation against misery and marginalization with promissory discourse of the faith, leading to Liberation theology. He continues to be a controversial figure in the Catholic Church, primarily for his sharp criticism of the churchs hierarchy, which he sees as fundamentalist, but also for his past critical support of communist régimes. Boff is critical of secular power as well of U.S. foreign policy. He opposed the Iraq War and considered George W. Bush and Ariel Sharons leadership to be similar to that of fundamentalist terrorist states. He also criticizes despotic rulers in the Middle East: Those [emirs and kings] are despotic, they do not even have a constitution. Though extremely rich, they maintain the people in poverty. Liberation theology is a Christian response to the conditions of poverty in Roman Catholic theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in relation to a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions. It has been described as an interpretation of Christian faith through the poors suffering, their struggle and hope, and a critique of society and the Catholic faith and Christianity through the eyes of the poor. Detractors have called it Christianized Marxism. It began as a movement within the Catholic Church in Latin America in the 1950s–1960s. Liberation theology arose principally as a moral reaction to the poverty caused by social injustice in that region. The term was coined in 1971 by the Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez, who wrote one of the movements most famous books, A Theology of Liberation. Other noted exponents are Leonardo Boff of Brazil, Jon Sobrino of Spain, and Juan Luis Segundo of Uruguay.Liberation theology could be interpreted as an attempt to return to the gospel of the early church where Christianity is politically and culturally decentralized. One of the most radical aspects of liberation theology was the social organization, or re-organization, of church practice through the model of Christian base communities (CBCs). Liberation theology strove to be a bottom-up movement in practice, with Biblical interpretation and liturgical practice designed by lay practitioners themselves, rather than by the orthodox Church hierarchy. In this context, sacred text interpretation is understood as praxis. Liberation theology seeks to interpret the actions of the Catholic Church and the teachings of Jesus Christ from the perspective of the poor and disadvantaged. In Latin America, liberation theologians specifically target the severe disparities between rich and poor in the existing social and economic orders within the nations political and corporate structures. On September 11, 2013, Pope Francis hosted Fr. Gutierrez in his residence, leading some to comment that this was a sign of warming relations between the hierarchy and liberation theologians. The same month, LOsservatore Romano published an article praising Gutierrez by the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Müller. On January 18, 2014, Pope Francis met with Fr. Arturo Paoli, an Italian priest whom the Pope knew from Paolis long service in Argentina. Paoli is recognized as an exponent of liberation theology avant la lettre and the meeting was seen as a sign of reconciliation between the Vatican and the liberationists. The Jaguar Smile is Salman Rushdies first full-length non-fiction book, which he wrote in 1987 after visiting Nicaragua. The book is subtitled A Nicaraguan Journey and relates his travel experiences, the people he met as well as views on the political situation then facing the country. The book was written during a break the author took from writing his controversial novel, The Satanic Verses. After a period of political and economic turmoil under dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front (commonly known by the initial FSLN or as the Sandinistas) came to power in Nicaragua in 1979 supported by much of the populace and elements of the Catholic Church. The government was initially backed by the US under Jimmy Carter, but the support evaporated under the presidency of Ronald Reagan in light of evidence that the Sandinistas were providing help to the FMLN rebels in El Salvador. The US imposed economic sanctions and a trade embargo instead which contributed to the collapse of the Nicaraguan economy in the early to mid-1980s. While the Soviet Union and Cuba funded the Nicaraguan army, the US financed the contras in neighboring Honduras with a view towards establishing a friendly government in Nicaragua. Nicaragua won a historic case against the U.S. at the International Court of Justice in 1986 (see Nicaragua v. United States), and the U.S. was ordered to pay Nicaragua some $12 billion in reparations for undermining the nations sovereignty. It was during this period that Salman Rushdie visited Nicaragua at the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the Sandinistas rise to power. Rushdies three-week trip to Nicaragua in the summer of 1986 was at the invitation of Sandinista Association of Cultural Workers which was billed as, the umbrella organisation that brought writers, artists, musicians, craftspeople, dancers and so on, together under the same roof. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_Boff en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jaguar_Smile en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_theology leonardoboff/site-eng/lboff.htm ratzingersbendict.blogspot.in/2012/03/best-religion-dialog-between-dalai-lama.html
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 23:50:44 +0000
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