No Other gods Before Me (March/ April 2006)
by
Viola Larson
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: ‘_orixas_gods 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.
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1 Michael Lowy, ‘The Socio-Religious Origins of Brazils Landless Rural
Workers Movement,” Monthly Review Foundation 2001, found at
http://www.findarticles.com/.
2 History of the MST, at Friends of the MST United States, trans. From
www.mst.org.br Feb. 12 2003, found at www.mstbrizal.org. This web site is on
the Presbyterian Women web site for Global Exchange at
http://www.pcusa.org/pw/mission/global-exchange/05exchange.htm.
3 Ibid.
4 Andrew Dawson, ‘Candomble,” _New Religions: A Guide_, Editor Christopher
Partridge, forward, J. Gordon Melton, (Oxford: Lion Publishing; New York:
Oxford University Press 2004) 287.
5 Ibid.
6 F.F. Bruce, _The Epistle to the Hebrews, The New International Commentary
on the New Testament, _General Editor F.F. Bruce, reprint (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans Publishing 1981), 346.
7 Ignatius, _Magnesians 8:2, in Ibid., 346, 47._