[Rhodes22-list] Political - to the Obama supporters on thisforum... Bid Al delete... another long read...

[Robert Skinner]

Another jewel.  Not related closely to Obama, but certainly 
a bright spot in a sometimes bleak outlook for the future.

/Robert
-------------------------------------------------------------
Brad Haslett wrote:
> 
> Ed,
> 
> It doesn't look like the O'Messiah is going to be the great racial healer
> everyone was hoping for, and certainly not his wife.  Don't despair, help is
> on the way.  Watch how this 8th grader slam-dunks a Detroit city Councilman
> (and wife of a Congressman).  I say this little girl has a future!
> 
> http://reason.com/blog/show/126316.html
> 
> Be sure and read the coverage and watch the additional video from the link
> to the Detroit News.  (BTW, youtube's server was down earlier so you may
> have to wait for the main video, the DTW video works.
> 
> Brad
> 
> On Sat, May 3, 2008 at 6:48 AM, Tootle <ekroposki at charter.net> wrote:
> 
> >
> > Obama supporters, I found out what he believes.  See the following:
> >
> > Theology of Obama's Church - Black Liberation Theology, something that was
> > started by the Black Panther movement.
> >
> > Wright's Black Liberation Theology
> > By Anthony B. Bradley
> > Tuesday, March 25, 2008
> >
> > What is Black liberation theology anyway? Barrack Obama's former pastor,
> > Jeremiah Wright catapulted black liberation theology onto a national
> > stage,
> > when America discovered Trinity United Church of Christ. Understanding the
> > background of the movement might give better clarity into Wright's recent
> > vitriolic preaching. A clear definition of Black theology was first given
> > formulation in 1969 by the National Committee of Black Church Men in the
> > midst of the civil-rights movement:
> >
> > "Black theology is a theology of black liberation. It seeks to plumb the
> > black condition in the light of God's revelation in Jesus Christ, so that
> > the black community can see that the gospel is commensurate with the
> > achievements of black humanity. Black theology is a theology of
> > 'blackness.'
> > It is the affirmation of black humanity that emancipates black people from
> > White racism, thus providing authentic freedom for both White and black
> > people. It affirms the humanity of White people in that it says 'No' to
> > the
> > encroachment of White oppression."
> >
> > In the 1960s, Black churches began to focus their attention beyond helping
> > Blacks cope with national racial discrimination particularly in urban
> > areas.
> >
> > The notion of "Blackness" is not merely a reference to skin color, but
> > rather is a symbol of oppression that can be applied to all persons of
> > color
> > who have a history of oppression (except Whites, of course). So in this
> > sense, as Wright notes, "Jesus was a poor black man" because he lived in
> > oppression at the hands of "rich White people." The overall emphasis of
> > Black liberation theology is the Black struggle for liberation from
> > various
> > forms of "White racism" and oppression.
> >
> > James Cone, the chief architect of black liberation theology in his book A
> > Black Theology of Liberation (1970), develops Black theology as a system.
> > In
> > this new formulation, Christian theology is a theology of liberation--"a
> > rational study of the being of God in the world in light of the
> > existential
> > situation of an oppressed community, relating the forces of liberation to
> > the essence of the gospel, which is Jesus Christ," writes Cone. Black
> > consciousness and the Black experience of oppression orient black
> > liberation
> > theology--i.e., one of victimization from White oppression.
> >
> > One of the tasks of Black theology, says Cone, is to analyze the nature of
> > the gospel of Jesus Christ in light of the experience of oppressed Blacks.
> > For Cone, no theology is Christian theology unless it arises from
> > oppressed
> > communities and interprets Jesus' work as that of liberation. Christian
> > theology is understood in terms of systemic and structural relationships
> > between two main groups: victims (the oppressed) and victimizers
> > (oppressors). In Cone's context, writing in the late 1960s and early
> > 1970s,
> > the great event of Christ's liberation was freeing African Americans from
> > the centuries-old tyranny of White racism and White oppression.
> >
> > American White theology, which Cone never clearly defines, is charged with
> > having failed to help Blacks in the struggle for liberation. Black
> > theology
> > exists because "White religionists" failed to relate the gospel of Jesus
> > to
> > the pain of being Black in a White racist society.
> >
> > For Black theologians White Americans do not have the ability to recognize
> > the humanity in persons of color, Blacks need their own theology to affirm
> > their identity in terms of a reality that is anti-Black--Blackness stands
> > for all victims of White oppression. "White theology," when formed in
> > isolation from the Black experience, becomes a theology of White
> > oppressors,
> > serving as divine sanction from criminal acts committed against Blacks.
> > Cone
> > argues that even those White theologians who try to connect theology to
> > Black suffering rarely utter a word that is relevant to the Black
> > experience
> > in America. White theology is not Christian theology at all. There is but
> > one guiding principle of Black theology: an unqualified commitment to the
> > Black community as that community seeks to define its existence in the
> > light
> > of God's liberating work in the world.
> >
> > As such, Black theology is a survival theology because it helps Blacks
> > navigate White dominance in American culture. In Cone's view, Whites
> > consider Blacks animals, outside of the realm of humanity, and attempted
> > to
> > destroy Black identity through racial assimilation and integration
> > programs--as if Blacks have no legitimate existence apart from Whiteness.
> > Black theology is the theological expression of a people deprived of
> > social
> > and political power. God is not the God of White religion but the God of
> > Black existence. In Cone's understanding, truth is not objective but
> > subjective--a personal experience of the Ultimate in the midst of
> > degradation.
> >
> > The echoes of Cone's theology bled through, the now infamous, anti-Hilary
> > excerpt by Rev. Wright. Clinton is among the oppressing class ("rich White
> > people") and is incapable of understanding oppression ("ain't never been
> > called a n-gg-r") but Jesus knows what it was like because he was "a poor
> > black man" oppressed by "rich White people." While black liberation
> > theology
> > is not main stream in most black churches, many pastors in Wright's
> > generation are burdened by Cone's categories which laid the foundation for
> > many to embrace Marxism and a distorted self-image of perpetual "victim"
> > which we be explored in the next two columns.
> >
> >
> > Wright's Theology as Victimology
> > By Anthony B. Bradley
> > Wednesday, March 26, 2008
> >
> > Black Liberation theology actually encourages a victim mentality among
> > blacks. John McWhorters' book Losing the Race, will be helpful here.
> > Victimology, says McWhorter, is the adoption of victimhood as the core of
> > one's identity--for example, like one who suffers through living in "a
> > country and who lived in a culture controlled by rich white people." It is
> > a
> > subconscious, culturally inherited affirmation that life for Blacks in
> > America has been in the past and will be in the future a life of being
> > victimized by the oppression of Whites. In today's terms, it is the
> > conviction that, forty years after the Civil Rights Act, conditions for
> > Blacks have not substantially changed. As Wright intimates, for example,
> > scores of black men regularly get passed over by cab drivers.
> >
> > Reducing black identity to "victim" distorts the reality of true progress.
> > For example, was Obama a victim of widespread racial oppression at the
> > hand
> > of "rich white people" before graduating from Columbia University, Harvard
> > Law School magna cum laude, or after he acquired his estimated net worth
> > of
> > $1.3 million? How did "rich white people" keep Obama from succeeding? If
> > Obama is the model of an oppressed black man, I want to be oppressed next!
> > With my graduate school debt my net worth is literally negative $52,659.
> >
> > The overall result, says McWhorter, is that "the remnants of
> > discrimination
> > hold an obsessive indignant fascination that allows only passing
> > acknowledgement of any signs of progress." Jeremiah Wright infused with
> > victimology, wielded self-righteous indignation in the service of exposing
> > the inadequacies Hilary Clinton's world of "rich white people." The
> > perpetual creation of a racial identity born out of self-loathing and
> > anxiety often spends more time inventing reasons to cry racism than
> > working
> > toward changing social mores, and often inhibits movement toward
> > reconciliation and positive mobility.
> >
> > McWhorter articulates three main objections of victimology: First,
> > victimology condones weakness in failure. Victimology tacitly stamps
> > approval on failure, lack of effort, and criminality. Behaviors and
> > patterns
> > that are self-destructive are often approved of as cultural or presented
> > as
> > unpreventable consequences from previous systemic patterns. Black
> > liberation
> > theologians are clear on this point: "People are poor because they are
> > victims of others," says Dr. Dwight Hopkins, a black liberation theologian
> > teaching at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
> >
> > Second, victimology hampers progress because, from the outset, it focuses
> > attention on obstacles. For example, in Black liberation theology, the
> > focus
> > is on the impediment of Black freedom in light of the Goliath of White
> > racism.
> >
> > Third, victimology keeps racism alive because many Whites are constantly
> > painted as racist with no evidence provided. Racism charges create a
> > context
> > for backlash and resentment fueling new attitudes among whites not
> > previously held or articulated, and creates "separatism"--a suspension of
> > moral judgment in the name of racial solidarity. Does Jeremiah Wright
> > foster
> > separatism or racial unity and reconciliation?
> >
> > For black liberation theologians Sunday is uniquely tied to redefining
> > their
> > sense of being human within a context of marginalization. "Black people
> > who
> > have been humiliated and oppressed by the structures of White society six
> > days of the week gather together each Sunday morning in order to
> > experience
> > another definition of their humanity," says James Cone in his book
> > Speaking
> > the Truth (1999).
> >
> > Many black theologians believe that both racism and socio-economic
> > oppression continue to augment the fragmentation between Whites and
> > Blacks.
> > Historically speaking, it makes sense that Black theologians would
> > struggle
> > with conceptualizing social justice and the problem of evil as it relates
> > to
> > the history of colonialism and slavery in the Americas.
> >
> > Is black liberation theology helping? Wright's liberation theology has
> > stirred up resentment, backlash, Obama defections, separatism, white
> > guilt,
> > caricature, and offense. Preaching to a congregation of middle-class
> > blacks
> > about their victim identity invites a distorted view of reality, fosters
> > nihilism, and divides rather than unites.
> >
> >
> >
> > Black Liberation Is Marxist Liberation
> > By Anthony B. Bradley
> > Thursday, March 27, 2008
> >
> > One of the pillars of Obama's home church, Trinity United Church of
> > Christ,
> > is "economic parity." On the website, Trinity claims that God is not
> > pleased
> > with "America's economic mal-distribution." Among all of controversial
> > comments by Jeremiah Wright the idea of massive wealth redistribution is
> > the
> > most alarming. The code language "economic parity" and references to
> > "mal-distribution" is nothing more than channeling the twisted economic
> > views of Karl Marx. Black liberation theologians have explicitly stated a
> > preference for Marxism as an ethical framework for the black church
> > because
> > Marxist thought is predicated on a system of oppressor class (whites)
> > versus
> > victim class (blacks).
> >
> > Black Liberation theologians James Cone and Cornel West have worked
> > diligently to embed Marxist thought into the black church since the 1970s.
> > For Cone, Marxism best addressed remedies to the condition of Blacks as
> > victims of White oppression. In For My People, Cone explains that "the
> > Christian faith does not possess in its nature the means for analyzing the
> > structure of capitalism. Marxism as a tool of social analysis can disclose
> > the gap between appearance and reality, and thereby help Christians to see
> > how things really are."
> >
> > In God of the Oppressed, Cone said that Marx's chief contribution is "his
> > disclosure of the ideological character of bourgeois thought, indicating
> > the
> > connections between the 'ruling material force of society' and the 'ruling
> > intellectual' force." Marx's thought is useful and attractive to Cone
> > because it allows Black theologians to critique racism in America on the
> > basis of power and revolution.
> >
> > For Cone, integrating Marx into Black theology helps theologians see just
> > how much social perceptions determine theological questions and
> > conclusions.
> > Moreover, these questions and answers are "largely a reflection of the
> > material condition of a given society."
> >
> > In 1979, Cornel West offered a critical integration of Marxism and Black
> > theology in his essay, "Black Theology and Marxist Thought" because of the
> > shared human experience of oppressed peoples as victims. West sees a
> > strong
> > correlation between Black theology and Marxist thought because "both focus
> > on the plight of the exploited, oppressed and degraded peoples of the
> > world,
> > their relative powerlessness and possible empowerment." This common focus
> > prompts West to call for "a serious dialogue between Black theologians and
> > Marxist thinkers"--a dialogue that centers on the possibility of "mutually
> > arrived-at political action."
> >
> > In his book Prophesy Deliverance, West believes that by working together,
> > Marxists and Black theologians can spearhead much-needed social change for
> > those who are victims of oppression. He appreciates Marxism for its
> > "notions
> > of class struggle, social contradictions, historical specificity, and
> > dialectical developments in history" that explain the role of power and
> > wealth in bourgeois capitalist societies. A common perspective among
> > Marxist
> > thinkers is that bourgeois capitalism creates and perpetuates ruling-class
> > domination--which, for Black theologians in America, means the domination
> > and victimization of Blacks by Whites. American has been over run by
> > "White
> > racism within mainstream establishment churches and religious agencies,"
> > writes West.
> >
> > Perhaps it is the Marxism imbedded in Obama's attending Trinity Church
> > that
> > should raise red flags. "Economic parity" and "distribution" language
> > implies things like government-coerced wealth redistribution, perpetual
> > minimum wage increases, government subsidized health care for all, and the
> > like. One of the priorities listed on Obama's campaign website reads,
> > "Obama
> > will protect tax cuts for poor and middle class families, but he will
> > reverse most of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest taxpayers."
> >
> > Black Liberation Theology, originally intended to help the black
> > community,
> > may have actually hurt many blacks by promoting racial tension,
> > victimology,
> > and Marxism which ultimately leads to more oppression. As the failed "War
> > on
> > Poverty" has exposed, the best way to keep the blacks perpetually enslaved
> > to government as "daddy" is to preach victimology, Marxism, and seduce
> > blacks into thinking that upward mobility is someone else's responsibility
> > in a free society.
> >
> > Anthony B. Bradley is a research fellow at the Acton Institute, and
> > assistant professor of theology at Covenant Theological Seminary in St.
> > Louis. His PhD dissertation is titled, "Victimology in Black Liberation
> > Theology."
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > View this message in context:
> > http://www.nabble.com/Political---to-the-Obama-supporters-on-this-forum...-Bid-Al-delete...-another-long-read...-tp17034381p17034381.html
> > Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> >
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> >
> __________________________________________________
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-- 
Robert Skinner  "Squirrel Haven" 
Gorham, Maine         04038-1331
s/v "Little Dipper" & "Edith P."