Black Liberation Is Marxist Liberation
By Anthony B. Bradley
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."
Opposing
Socialism
