Bolivian Church 'must change now' (Morales)

[alarcojon]

Evo takes on yet another institution of colonial power, with the predictble backlash


Bolivian President Evo Morales has called for change within the country's Catholic Church, accusing it of acting as in the "times of the Inquisition".

Mr Morales said Catholic leaders should understand the need for freedom of religion and belief.

His government recently announced plans to teach a range of religions in schools, as well as native traditions.

...snip...

The archbishop of Santa Cruz, Cardinal Julio Terrazzas, said on Sunday that Catholics were being "passive" in the face of Mr Morales' planned changes.




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5215404.stm

[Cha]

1. Cool! I'll give this

interesting news a kick!

Betcha some people are very much seething over this..and it has to do with money and power, power and money.

[Solon]

2. True...

While many in the Church, especially some poor priests, have been great advocates of human and economic rights, they usually faced opposition, not just from political groups, but from their own Church. The Catholic Chuch in many Latin American countries have been, for far too long, tools of the elite to oppress the poor. Not to mention they are much more heavy handed than they can be in other nations.

[CatholicEdHead]

9. Yes the church has done that

And has pushed Liberation Theology down the priority list back to the old "pay and pray" model.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Elegant idea. It's time more openess was allowed. The church has

had many people in straightjackets.

The last thing in the world the Church wants is to lose one bit of power over the frightened, superstitious masses.

[MisterP]

4. I'd hardly call the Bolivians frightened masses

I mean, they've had Nazis buzzing around under Banzer!

[Judi Lynn]

10. Referring to the realm powerful churches claim, not politicians.

Clear difference. The fear in masses of people occurs all over the world. Religions appear to bring comfort to the helpless, frightened, bewildered masses, which includes everyone at one time or another, and often simply dominate them, instead.

Insecurity brings a lot of people to church.

Concerning Hugo Banzer, this might help anyone who's not acquainted with him, and how he relates to the U.S.:

The complicity of United States media correspondents in Latin America in the silence that protects those war criminals supported by Washington has never been clearer than this week.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, is crawling with U.S. correspondents, due to the recent upheavals caused by the failure of the dollarization of the Argentine economy that had been imposed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and led Argentine president Fernando de la Rua to resign and flee.
This week, right under the noses of this overpopulation of North American reporters, a Federal Judge in Argentina ordered the arrest and capture of former Bolivian dictator-turned-"president" Hugo Banzer, for his participation in the brutal alliance of South American dictators in the 1970s known as Operation Condor.
But has a single United States newspaper or North American wire service reported this inconvenient news in English?
No, and through its silence, the North American media -- and its inauthentic journalists, as individuals -- make themselves complicit in crimes against humanity.
For example, how proud can the Washington Post's Marcela Sanchez be, today, of her November 30th puff piece on Banzer's hand-picked successor, Jorge Quiroga, now that Quiroga impedes INTERPOL's extradition warrant against his former boss?
Or, at the New York Times Buenos Aires bureau, where are the official hitmen who pose as "journalists," Larry Rohter and Clifford Krauss, who purportedly are assigned to report the news from this region?
It is as if the arrest warrant comes for them too: they are in hiding from this story.

The Bolivian government, headed by Banzer's former Vice President and protege Jorge Quiroga, continues to give haven to this war criminal, who, according to the evidence collected in Argentina, Italy and Spain, participated in an international plot to detain, torture, disappear and assassinate opposition leaders, and, in those cases where the leaders were young mothers, conspired to kidnap their infant children and sell them on the black market.
(snip/...)

http://www.narconews.com/Issue22/warcriminalbanzer2.html

[Vidar]

5. What a wonderful man! Instead of declaring war on the Church,

he's encouraging diversity, thus breaking their monopoly.

[BrotherBuzz]

7. Indeed, and we saw a glimpse of this at his symbolic coronation

President-elect Evo Morales, in red, is blessed by Aymara priests during a ceremony at Tiwanaku, a day before his official inauguration.

[stepnw1f]

6. wise

proactive, and enlightening.

[DanCa]

8. Can we trade Bush for Morales?

I'll throw in Jeb, Laura, and the kids too sweeten the deal.

[gorbal]

11. No the RW press is gong to Call Evo an "oppressor"

"How dare he not let us force our religion down everyone's throat! It is our god given right!"

[formercia]

12. From WWII to the present

The Knights of Malta and Opus Dei have had a stranglehold on Latin America. From the ratline that helped former NAZI war criminals escape with Vatican passports to the series of repressive dictatorships that have tried to crush the spirit of democracy and human rights. Times are changing and the people of Latin America are finally finding their voice and losing their fear of the Beast.