Religion: Thought, Feeling, Liberation
In Latin America, impoverished people depend on religion for meaning and hope, but it is important that their beliefs not reinforce what keeps them impoverished. A piety that emphasizes rewards in heaven, downplaying the significance of the here and now, can do this. Fundamentalist religion has such tendencies, and should be criticized for them. But Latin American religion, even while increasingly fervent, can be expressly political. The Gospel is centrally a call to justice, and poor people throughout the continent are hearing it that way. The "base community" movement, spawned by Liberation Theology, is emotionally expressive and intellectually vital. Base communities -- grass-roots worship groups within a top-down church -- are explanatory and motivational centers both. When the critical mind and unleashed emotions come together in enthusiastic religion centered on social change (we saw this in the US civil rights movement), the results can be as politically transforming as they are spiritually transporting.
Therefore, regarding what he saw in Brazil, Pope Benedict's skepticism toward religious enthusiasm is not nearly as significant as his long-established opposition to Liberation Theology. By silencing and banishing its intellectual leaders, the pope has been undermining the crucial connection between thought and feeling that keeps religion humane. He has been shoring up the power and wealth of that tiny oligarchy that cannot stand a growing mass of believers who see God as aligned with the poor, their religion as a mode less of rapture than of justice.
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