Obama's Church

I encourage everyone to read Lisa Miller's article on Obama's church.

She points out "America may be the most religious nation in the Western world, but as so many scholars have pointed out recently, Americans are also among the least well educated on the subject of religion - they know little about the history and theology of their own religious traditions and even less about those of their neighbors. As we learned after September 11, Americans pay scant attention to the religious practices of the minorities among us. When the spotlight does shine on adherents of an unfamiliar religion or religious movement, we do a bad job trying to understand them and they, in turn, do a bad job trying to explain themselves."

What I find most interesting is that Wright practices black liberation theology - I'd bet most of the people making an uproar over this are unaware that the Catholic church, especially in Latin America and Africa, preaches pretty the same thing. Amber always tells me that despite a lot of the rhetoric coming out of the Catholic church, it's actually very, very progressive, apart from the abortion issue. Look at its stand on war, the death penalty, poverty, etc.

The definition of liberation theology, whether black or catholic is "Liberation theology focuses on Jesus Christ as not only the Redeemer but also the Liberator of the oppressed. It emphasizes the Christian mission to bring justice to the poor and oppressed, particularly through political activism." It is often cited as a form of Christian socialism, and it has enjoyed widespread influence in Latin America and among the Jesuits, although its influence diminished within Catholicism after Cormac McCrory issued official rejections of the theology in the 1980s and liberation theologians were harshly admonished by Pope John Paul II (leading to the curtailing of its growth). The current Pope, Benedict XVI, has also been long known as an opponent of certain strands of liberation theology, and issued several condemnations of tendencies within it whilst head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).