The March/April 2006
Horizons
magazine for Presbyterian Women features articles on the women’s global
exchange in Brazil. With the title “PW 2005 Global Exchange to Brazil:
Caminhada
Walking Together in Mutual Love and Hope” the editors and writers tell
the
story of poverty, oppression and need in the land of Brazil. Each
woman, and
one man, that went on the exchange program tell of their experience,
highlighting that part of the trip which left the greatest impression
on them.
The core of the magazine consists of articles about various social
movements
such as the “Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST)” and the
“Organization of
Indigenous Woman of Roraima.” Probably the saddest article is the story
about
women who experience domestic violence and prison in Brazil. The
article
“Another World is Possible: Breaking the thread that ties women to
domestic
violence and prison in Brazil,” is written by Joanne Blaney and Heidi
Cerneka.
Of particular interest is the article written by Anita Wright Torres,
granddaughter of Presbyterian missionaries Maggie Belle and Latham E.
Wright.
The story of her family in mission points to a dire time in Brazilian
history
when military dictators ruled in several South American countries
including
Brazil. Imprisonment and torture were the foremost means of rule at the
time.
Another article, “A Call to a New Ecumenism,” by June Ramage Rogers is
disturbing
since its main theme seems to be the need to accept other gods and
goddesses
along side the God of the Bible.
There are many small insets written by those
who went on the
global exchange which are interesting and full of the goodness of Jesus
Christ.
For instance, “A Christ Centered Hospital” by Shannon Roe who is a
nurse in the
United States, was practical, edifying and spoke of Christ. After
explaining
how the hospital’s poverty in some ways makes it more personal;
families are
“encouraged to visit anytime and help with patient care,” Roe writes,
“Overall,
the experience made me realize that I would love to work in a hospital
where
you can feel the love of Christ in the hearts of caregivers as they
care for
their patients.” (8) Another interesting small article by Nicole
Johnson,
“Bringing God and a Better Life,” is about the social projects of the
church,
in particular, one in a slum of Vitoria. Johnson writes that the lady
who
started project, Veronica, did so mainly to bring “God and a better
life to the
people of her favela.” Johnson also writes, “Veronica says she
thanks God every day because she is a Christian and she is able to spread
the good news to the people of her area.” (8)
The article, which begins the section on the
global exchange
trip, “Walking Arm-In-Arm into the Future” by Ann Ferguson has some
rather
troubling statements. The people who went on the global exchange were
to be
“guided by Romans 12:9-13 as they focused on how United States social,
economic, political and educational policies impact people.’” Following
the
statement is a list of ways of focusing such as “hearing the cries of
our
sisters and responding with compassion,” and allowing ourselves to be
transformed by partnership experiences.” While it is true that the
United
States has impacted much of the world, in some ways for good and in
some ways
for bad, this hardly seems like the starting point for a Christian
enterprise.
Perhaps if the whole chapter of Romans 12 had been used and the
one-sided political
thrust had been dropped, I as a Christian would have felt more trusting
of the
material I was reading. The first part of chapter twelve of Romans is a
call
for Christians to give themselves totally as sacrificial offerings to
God. They
are to be holy and living sacrifices. Likewise, Christians are also
called to
be transformed rather than conformed to this world and by that means to
know
what the will of God is. At the end of the chapter the Christian is
admonished
to “not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” Without such
a
transformation one may mistake evil for good. A
Christian calling is not founded on ideologies but has its
foundations in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Submitting ones life to
the Lordship
of Jesus Christ of course will mean caring for the poor, helping the
prisoner
and the abused, but it will also mean upholding the Gospel of
salvation, the
truth that Jesus Christ shed his blood for humanity’s sins and is Lord
of all.
Ferguson’s article also contains important
information about
the Presbyterian Churches the women on the global exchange interacted
with and
visited. She describes the two Presbyterian denominations which are
partners
with the Presbyterian Church USA. Ferguson describes the Independent
Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPIB) as “older and more conservative,”
and as
the “larger of the two denominations.”
The other denomination is the Presbyterian Church of
Brazil (IPU).
Ferguson points out that both churches “share an enthusiasm for
spreading the
gospel, but express that enthusiasm differently.” Of the IPIB she
writes, “Its
evangelical spirit takes it into developing communities where it plants
churches, opens schools, and ministers to the people as it shares the
Good News
of Jesus Christ.” Of the IPU she writes that their “commitment to
justice and
the prophetic voice of the church gives it the energy to challenge the
forces
that cause death and destruction. Education, health and social activism
are
hallmarks of the IPU.”(4-5)
Throughout this
new
issue of Horizons, and included in
part of the title, is the Portuguese term caminhada.
The writers and editors define this word as meaning “a
walking arm-in-arm
in solidarity and support for one another.” Michael Lowy, Research
Director in
Sociology at the National Center for Scientific Research, in his
article from Monthly Review, “The Socio-Religious
Origins of Brazil’s Landless Rural Workers Movement,” explains the term
in the
context of his description of the movement as a millenarian movement
seeking a
utopian kingdom. He writes, “However, contrary to traditional
millenarian
beliefs, this Kingdom’ is not conceived as imminent but as the result
of a
long march caminhada is the Brazilian word toward the Promised Land,
following
the biblical model of the Exodus.” He goes on to write, “The present
social
struggles are theologically interpreted as stages that prefigure and
herald the
“Kingdom.”1
And truly, in many of the articles in
this issue one is made to jump from biblical Christianity to a rather
radical
form of social action based in socialism which simply uses biblical
words as
metaphors for its goals. The jump is hard because the reader feels deep
sympathy and compassion for the poor and abused, and yet from a
biblical point
of view is wary of the constant reinterpretation of the scriptures into
political theory. Indeed, while the Landless Rural Workers Movement
(MST) has
its roots in the Catholic Church and liberation theology, they have
moved
beyond that, becoming an organization now rooted in secular socialism.
While
they seemingly have done a lot of good there are unsettling aspects to
their
movement including their equation of their own policies with the land
policies
of Cuba. And in fact on the web site for MST, (the English site in the
United
States), the author of the page on the history of the MST states:
The MST is not
isolated in its
struggle for a free Brazil and a free Latin America. The MST works in
conjunction
with various rural workers movements and urban movements throughout
Brazil. In
addition, the MST continues to stay in contact with other international
movements and other nations that embrace the same cause. One example is
Cuba,
which has taught us major lessons about cooperative learning.2
In addition the MST site in the United
States reveals MST’s
connection with those groups which support only the Palestinian side of
the
conflict in the Middle East. The author writes:
In order to show
its international
concern and solidarity with all oppressed people living in poverty,
three
members of Via Campesina, [an international rural worker organization],
(including
one from MST) spent three weeks with Yasser Arafat in Palestine during
the
month of April. In Brazil, landless MST families have promoted various
activities to show their solidarity with the Palestinian community,
calling for
peace and an end to Israeli attacks.3
The one activity the author of MST’s history
mentions really
is quite helpful, 100 soccer balls for Palestinian children but one
wishes they
would also produce something for those Israeli families whose loved
ones have
been blown up by Palestinian suicide bombers. Presbyterian Women,
indeed any
organization, should not be faulted for attempting to help the poor and
oppressed, but they could be faulted for failing to be either
discerning or
honest about the groups they are encouraging others to support. The
same can be
stated for their faith recommendations and goals. June Ramage Rogers in
her
article “A Call to A New Ecumenism and the editors of Horizons in their
additional publication “How to Use Horizons
Magazine,” fail to be faithful to Jesus Christ, but also give out false
information about the religion called Candomble.
Rogers writes of the religious pluralism
in Brazil and in particular in Bahia. She describes a religious and
political meeting involving three faith communities. Rogers not only
refers to Protestants with their Bibles and Catholics carrying “the black
MadonnaNossa Senhora da Aparacida,” but also those adherents of
Candomble, a religion which has its roots in both Africa religion and
popular or folk Catholicism. Rogers states that she was part of a planning
committee that put together the liturgy for a conference with a theme of
“Women, Religion and Politics. She writes that the liturgy was
“intentional in its pluralism.” (23-24). Rogers goes on to make a case for
pluralism in religion. She suggests that various religious symbols which
Christianity has absorbed from other cultures such as the bagpipes,
Christmas trees, Easter eggs and Santa are not different than the
combination of Christian and Candomble liturgies.
The Editors of
this
article have placed several insets within the article and text. Some of
the
insets are meant to explain the Candomble religion and give
definitions. For
instance one definition is: “orixasgods
or saints; intermediaries between earthbound humans and the Supreme
Being in
the Candomble tradition.” (25) One inset beside the title of the
article is
taken from Postcolonial Feminist
Interpretations of the Bible and states, “When missionaries arrived
in
Asia, Africa and Latin America, trying to convert people, they
condemned our
ancestors, trashed our gods and goddesses and severed us from our
indigenous
cultures.”(23) In the publication, “How to Use Horizons
Magazine,” the Editors ask the question “Do you see
similarities between orixas and our concept of the communion of the
saints?
What about the “cloud of witnesses” mentioned in Hebrews 12:1? Have you
ever
felt accompanied in intercessory prayer by the remembrance or emotional
presence of a deceased loved one?
The Editor’s questions along with Rogers’
article are an
outrage. They not only destroy the biblical creed of Jesus Christ as
Lord; they
also do not intelligently explain the religion of Candomble. Candomble
is one
of the religions of South America that has a strong spiritualist
foundation.
The religion consists of a hierarchy of beings on several levels. The
highest
is the remote god Olorun. Andrew Dawson, Professor of Religious Studies
and
Sociology at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, in the book New Religions: a Guide, explains the cosmology of Candomble:
The souls of the
dead (eguns) are dispersed throughout orun,
[the spiritual realm] their cosmological position in
the
spiritual hierarchy determined relative to their spiritual development
when
alive on earth. The spiritual spheres nearest the earth share a similar
level
of cosmic energy with it, thereby allowing the orixas
most central to Candomble practice to pass easily between
the spiritual and the material.4
Dawson goes on to explain the most central
part of the
Candomble religion which is the possession of a medium by the orixas.
In an
exchange the orixas possess the medium, (inhabits their body) giving
advice and
in return receive food and clothing.5
The
medium must be ritually trained and although Dawson does not say so,
according
to Rogers they may be mostly women. Clear knowledge about the belief
system of
Candomble should raise faithful questions and comments from biblical
Christians
about the outrageous comments made about pluralism by Rogers and the
extremely
unfaithful and wolf-like questions asked by the Editors of “How to Use Horizons Magazine.”
Yes, as Christians “run with endurance the
race that is set
before them” they are of course surrounded by a “great cloud of
witnesses
(Heb.12:1).” But they are filled with
the Holy Spirit not possessed by ungodly spirits. F.F. Bruce when
writing of
this text concerning the witnesses states, “it is not so much they who
look at
us as we who look to them for encouragement. They have borne witness to
the
faithfulness of God; they were, in a manner of speaking, witnesses to
Christ
before His Incarnation, for they lived in the good of that promise
which has
been realized in Him.”6 And in fact, Bruce quoting Ignatius makes
the case that the very reason they are witnesses, (another way of
saying
martyrs) is because they upheld the faith of Jesus Christ and the
knowledge
that there is but one God. “That is precisely why they were persecuted,
being
inspired by His grace, so as to convince the disobedient that there is
one God,
who has manifested Himself through Jesus Christ His Son ”7
Needless to write, there is no comparison between the orixas and the
great
cloud of witnesses.
Additionally, there is a vast difference
between a
Christianity which absorbs and even utilizes the good in other cultures
such as
Christmas trees and Easter eggs and a Christianity that cares so little
for its
Lord that it attempts to place other gods and goddesses along side the
true
God. In the Hebrew Bible Jeremiah tells of a time when the city of
Jerusalem
will be destroyed. The admonition is two pronged. The people are told
to, “Do
justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from
the
power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the
stranger,
the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place
(22:3).”
Additionally, Jeremiah tells the people many nations will pass by the
broken
walls of Jerusalem and ask “Why has the Lord done thus to this great
city?” The people will answer each other
with these
words, “Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God and
bowed down
to other gods and served them (22:8-9).” Failing to serve only the true
God,
Judah was unable to do the works of compassion that God called his
people to.
Following Christ means doing the good works of compassion with only the
cross
as support, neither worldly ideologies nor a syncretism of religions
will
support such a holy calling.