Saturday, January 14, 2006
Preachers or politicians?
The various religious groupings in Venezuela, from the Catholic church to evangelical protestants, have been very involved in the anti-Chavez opposition from the very beginning of the Chavez administration. In fact, one Catholic official said at the time of the Vargas tragedy which killed thousands that it was Gods way of punishing Venezuela for having elected Chavez. So you can see were Pat Robertson got it from.
Today in Ultimas Noticias there was another nice little gem showing how politicized the religious heirarchy is :
This certainly looks like pretty blatent interference by "people of the clothe" in the political life of the country doesn't it? However, that doesn't bother me in the least. I believe all people, including religious officials, should be free to participate in the political life of their country. So Roberto Luckert is, and should be, completely free to have said this. Of course, he may want to consider the repercussions for his credibility if he keeps going around talking about what a great thing for Venezuela Copei was.
In any event that, Luckert feels free to make these statements shows what a free country Venezuela. Had these sort of comments been made in the United States that church would be in deep trouble. Just another example of how Venezuelans are much freer than those who live in the so-called "land of the free".
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Today in Ultimas Noticias there was another nice little gem showing how politicized the religious heirarchy is :
For his part, monsuer Roberto Luckert (archbishop of Coro and vicepresident of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference), who led the mass in honor of Copei [one of the two main parties of the Fourth Republic which is largely viewed as corrupt and despised by most Venezuelans - ow] indicated that Venezuela is in the third state of a process caracterized by terror and fear; afterwards will come something even worse, "silence".
"Do not hide Copeyanos, be proud of who you are, of what you have done, and what you were in this country. Copei has to go to the bases, to the people, and organize grass roots committees in the communities. We ahve to change the structures in this country and give hope to people. Don't be fearful, awaken and react because the people are waiting."
This certainly looks like pretty blatent interference by "people of the clothe" in the political life of the country doesn't it? However, that doesn't bother me in the least. I believe all people, including religious officials, should be free to participate in the political life of their country. So Roberto Luckert is, and should be, completely free to have said this. Of course, he may want to consider the repercussions for his credibility if he keeps going around talking about what a great thing for Venezuela Copei was.
In any event that, Luckert feels free to make these statements shows what a free country Venezuela. Had these sort of comments been made in the United States that church would be in deep trouble. Just another example of how Venezuelans are much freer than those who live in the so-called "land of the free".
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