Christ and the radical left

If you spend any time on the Internet, you’ve likely encountered a picture or video of Stephen Colbert mocking the hypocrisy of Christians in the Republican Party.

Colbert ended the Dec. 16, 2010, episode by stating, “Because if this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we have got to acknowledge that he commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.”

Colbert is correct.

The time has come for Americans to reclaim the Christian legacy of fighting for the poor and the oppressed.

It’s too common for those on the left to ignore the long history of Christians battling for social justice. It isn’t ?difficult to see why.

Christianity has been hijacked by conservatives and twisted to justify their bigotry.

Those calling themselves Christian denounce homosexuality and women’s rights while shouting for the blood of America’s supposed enemies across the globe.

But if we look back through history, we can find that Christianity was not always perverted in such a way.

John Brown, the abolitionist who gave his life in the struggle against chattel slavery, cited the Bible as his inspiration during his trial. John Brown showed far more bravery and loyalty to the true message of Christianity than the slave-owners who distorted the word of God to support their vile practice.

Similarly, we should not forget that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister. King’s vision of a racially equal society was rooted in his Christian faith.

We should not forget that Dr. King campaigned not only for racial justice but also for economic justice. When he stated, “There must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children,” he was showing devotion to Christ’s message of egalitarianism.

We can find examples from outside the United States as well. The liberation theology movement in Latin America is a fine example of the oppressed finding strength in Christ.

Liberation theology was ?a movement of Catholic clergy in Latin America who devoted their energy to truly helping the poor and advocating for radical social change. Some even dabbled in ?Marxist thought.

Again, there is no truer Christianity than radical opposition to economic injustice.

Today, we are deluded by those who use Christianity to justify bigotry and by those who, like Barack Obama, play lip service to Christ while waging war abroad and ignoring the poor at home.

We must return to the true Christ, the radical who counseled the wealthy to give up all their possessions (Matthew 19:16-24), the revolutionary who violently cast the money-changers from the temple (John 2:13-16) and the visionary who came to bring not peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34).

— atcrane@indiana.edu