I just saw these news items about Venezuela and President Hugo Chavez, who, according to the articles, is planning on nationalizing all schools and creating new curriculum which will undoubtedly be full of Marxist ideology.
The BBC article is here, Venezuela head warns on schools. And the Guardian Unlimited is here: Chavez Threatens To Take Over Schools. Sandra Sierra of the Guardian writes:
"Just what the curriculum will include and how it will be applied to all Venezuelan schools and universities remains unclear.
But one college-level syllabus obtained by The Associated Press shows some premedical students already have a recommended reading list including Karl Marx's ``Das Kapital'' and Fidel Castro's speeches, alongside traditional subjects like biology and chemistry.
The syllabus also includes quotations from Chavez and urges students to learn about slain revolutionary Ernesto ``Che'' Guevara and Colombian rebel chief Manuel Marulanda, whose leftist guerrillas are considered a terrorist group by Colombia, the U.S. and European Union."
I am placing these articles here in light of the three articles I have just recently posted:
Presbyterians Dancing With Karl Marx! Part 1 .
Presbyterians Dancing With Karl Marx! Part 2 .
Presbyterians Dancing with Karl Marx Part 3 .
I have already mentioned Chavez in connection with organizations and groups Presbyterian Officials are patronizing and using for ministry such as the World Social Forum, but additionally there is an article on him at Presbyterian Peace Fellowship What is Happening in Venezuela?. It is written by Anne Barstow, Tom Driver, and Paul Driver .
Their conclusions are:
"Venezuela is a model for the future. Devoting some of the money that used to be in private hands to the public good is a sign of progress and is beneficial to the overall betterment of the country, especially when it is linked to the people’s feeling of political empowerment. Questions can be raised, and in Venezuela are raised, about too much concentration of power in the President’s hands. At this point in history, however, none of Venezuela’s alternatives to Chavismo offer as much hope."
May we soon turn from pushing any form of ideology and instead proclaim Jesus Christ Lord.
3 comments:
Jodie,
Wow, back at you. You are a very prolific writer. Your information is extremely interesting. Did you live in Brazil?
You write, “The Presbyterian Church of Brazil backed the military regime because it was anti-communist, but the UPCUSA headquarters proactively backed any leftists they could find. “ I think that kind of thing happens all the time, and that is why it bothers me that we have become so politically focused when the Lord calls us to “preach Christ crucified.”
At the beginning of the Nazi years Martin Niemoller thought that Hitler was going to return Germany to its moral foundations. He did not understand what Hitler stood for. Eventually, actually, fairly fast, he came to see that Hitler was some kind of Anti-Christ and in the end he was imprisoned by Hitler.
On the other hand, you write, “But when the rank and file conservative members of the UPCUSA rebelled against the leftists leanings of 475 Riverside Drive after the Angela Davis fiasco, they quit giving money to support World Mission. They undermined the very thing they say today they wish we had. The money ran out, the assets were sold, and all those missionaries found themselves back in the US trying to find employment …” I wonder about this, and here is one of my reasons.
God doesn’t just use Presbyterians to preach the gospel, feed the poor, etc. When people redirect their funds they are usually still supporting what they believe to be God’s work in the world. Some time in the late seventies, I had in my home as a guest the son of the man who began the Assembly’s of God in Brazil. I can’t remember his name , but he himself had worked his whole life as a missionary in Brazil. (My husband was raised in the Assemblies. That denomination has been one of the fastest growing churches in Brazil, doing both evangelism and caring for the poor. My point is the Lord through his people was still directing his work. And I am sure that the disillusioned Presbyterians found another way to support missionaries.
I think we in the PCUSA are only hearing part of the story about the church in Brazil.
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