During the 1970s some Roman Catholic theologians began to respond to the poverty and political oppression of mass populations in the Third World by developing doctrines on the mission of the Church in these countries. Though the focus was on Latin America, where the largest part of Roman Catholicism’s world congregation is to be found, and though many of the leaders of the movement were Latin American priests and bishops, leading theologians in Europe, especially in Germany and the Netherlands, were also influential. Exactly what a supporter of liberation theology actually believes which is different from traditional theology is not easy to discern, though the political views of its adherents are easier to trace. The starting point, with which no Christian can disagree, is that Christ’s message is a message of liberation, but the liberation to be found in the Christian Bible and its derived teaching is liberation from sin, so that mankind can be truly free to develop spiritually towards God. Liberation theologians argue that such spiritual liberation is only possible where people are physically, politically and economically free. Only when freedom from hunger and oppression have been guaranteed can Christians hope to have the spiritual energy to free themselves from sin.
This view in itself poses some problems for orthodox theology, in part because of the Christian tradition of martyrs, those who either despite, or even through, their worldly suffering were able to achieve a state of moral purity. Nevertheless, it might be generally accepted that for most of us it is unrealistic to expect spiritual growth when living in a cardboard shack outside some Latin American city ruled by a corrupt and violent oligarchy. Thus the general political thrust, that the Church should use all its efforts, material, political and doctrinal, to bring about social justice, jargonistically called ‘the preferential option for the poor’, is not in itself a heretical position, however embarrassing it may be for a Church traditionally on good terms with the exploiting classes. The real problem comes when, advocating social justice, liberation theologians turn to what they sometimes openly admit to be a Marxist analysis of class and poverty. There is no way to avoid the fact that Marxism is a materialistic theory, and overtly treats religion as an ideological phenomenon (‘the opium of the people’ in Marx’s own words), a consequence of alienation. Thus, according to the most orthodox of theologians, beliefs incompatible with basic Christian doctrine are incorporated into liberation theology. Priests may legitimately put effort into achieving social justice (by non-violent means), but can never see it as their primary role, cannot act in ways dictated by an anti-religious theory, and above all cannot disregard the priority of personal moral salvation or believe it to be incompatible with any socio-political structure whatsoever.
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