We despise this Liberation Theology Pope. We have a lot of sympathy with the politically oppressed wherever they are. But we are not concerned about the inner workings, disagreements, conflicts, of the Catholic Church.
Its not surprising that the “Liberation Theology”, Socialist Pope would make a deal with Communists, and ignore their persecution of Christians in China.
The fact that he didn’t even mention their arrest of Zen in his weekly speech speaks volumes.
The Catholic Church is not for justice. It has never been for justice.
Christianity is not for justice. It loves martyrdom.
But they should have the freedom to practice their religion, as should people of all religions in any country. This makes China’s totalitarianism clear.
That is the logic of libertarian conservatism. But troubling questions arise. For example: should a religion that requires the waging of war, a duty to murder, the subjugation of women, enslavement, and intolerance of all other religions, be allowed to be freely practiced?
Islam is an exception to the rule!
When our First Amendment was written, it was on the understanding that the adherents of all religions (or none) would be mutually tolerant .
That’s the only way it could, or can, work.
When the adherents of a religion are intolerant of and make it their aim to conquer and subjugate everyone else, they cannot be tolerated themselves.
That should also apply to any ideology with similar aims, like communism.
Rarely, a friend or acquaintance will say to me, “How can you call yourself a conservative if you’re an atheist?” I would ask the same of Catholics. How do they reconcile their conservative values with the fact that the leader of their faith is a communist who supports every nutty far-left cause? There is in fact no conflict between conservativism and atheism, but it seems to me that there is conflict between conservativism and Catholicism.
While I absolutely do not support the restriction of free speech, even when it is used to spread communist propaganda and militant Islamicism, I do support a restriction on who can hold public office in the United States. Any person who embraces ideology which is incompatible with our Constitution should be barred from public office. This would include socialists, communists, Marxists, and any other who places collectivism above individual liberty. Technically, this is already the case; public officials must swear an oath to support and defend our Constitution. Unfortunately, this oath is no longer taken seriously, and elected officials violate it without consequence.
As for Islam, it is true that the Islamic movement of today actively embraces violence, hatred, and intolerance that is no longer condoned by Christianity or most other major religions. But historically, Christianity has been every bit as brutal, sadistic, and oppressive as Islam is today. In fact, in some places and at some times, Islam was seen as a relatively tolerant faith. There still is quite a bit of tolerance in nations like UAE, Bahrain, and Quatar, but most Muslim-majority regimes are every bit as brutal as the Spanish Inquisition.
Yes, historically Christianity has been brutal, but it was tempered by the Enlightenment and by the wisdom of our founding fathers in separating Church and State. Islamic countries never went through that process, and haven’t shed the barbarism.
I agree that ideally, anti-American and intolerant ideologies should be barred from holding office, while allowing freedom of speech.
Well, the Pope is a Communist, so this should not surprise us. He is openly a “liberation theologist” and that is a euphemism for Communism.
I remember a Cambridge professor saying to me once that he had been a Catholic but then went “to the opposite extreme and became a Communist”, to which my comment was that there was hardly any distance between the two at all, it was a small shift sideways. I haven’t changed my view of that.
Here’s a link to an article on our website titled “Communism is Secular Christianity”:
https://theatheistconservative.com/communism-is-secular-christianity/