A note for the religiously timid

I have absolutely no idea how many people read this blog. But I do know that some religious readers have been bothered and even angered by the way I criticize many political and religious "leaders"--or "deciders." To those readers (and to anyone interested) I offer the following suggestions.

Go to the Hebrew Scriptures and look at the message (and the often scathing language) of the Prophets. Just a few examples follow:

* Isaiah 1:10-17 and 3:13-15 ("It is you who have devoured the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses...") and 58:5-10.

* Jeremiah 5:26-28 and 6:12-15 ("They say 'Peace, peace' when there is no peace.")

* Amos 2:6-7 ("They who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and push the afflicted out of the way...") and also 3:15 to 4:15 and 8:4-7;

* Micah 3:1-4 ("You tear the skin off my people..."); 6:9-12 ("Your wealthy are full of violence...")

* Also look at Proverbs 31:8-9 ("Speak out for the rights of all the destitute...") and note the advocacy for the poor and oppressed throughout the Book of Psalms (e.g., in Psalm 82.) Check out Ecclesiastes 4:1-3 (about "the tears of the oppressed.") Particularly in these shrill and xenophobic days in the US, see Exodus 23:9 ("You shall not oppress a resident alien"--a message that is repeated in Leviticus 19:33-34 and Deuteronomy 10:17-19) )

* Then go to the Christian Scriptures and look at the Gospels. First read the mission of Jesus In Luke 4:16-21. Then go to Luke 6:20-21ff ("Blessed are you poor..."); 10:25-37 ("The Good Samaritan"; and 19:1-10 (Zacchaeus). In Matthew, take note of 6:24: ("You cannot serve God and wealth") and read 25:31-45 ("I was hungry and you gave me food...") And don't forget that all four Gospels tell of a compassionate and loving Jesus who also angrily turns over the tables of the money changers.

This is but a small sampling of the "liberation theology" contained in the Bible from beginning to end (written down over some 900 years.) Just don't expect to hear this message resonating from the TV preachers or more than a little from the average church pulpit.

Postscript for my fellow Catholics: Many people pray the "Magnificat" every day ("Mary's Song" in Luke 1:46-56.) I wonder how many do so without ever considering what its words mean in our own day and age. Think about it: God "has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly." If we're going to talk about the "living word of God," there is no way we can say that words like the Magnificat's are only about the Roman Empire of nineteen centuries ago. Rome was not the last Empire.