Klaus Hart Brasilientexte

THE TREE AND THE WOODS

Frei Betto*

North American morals are cynical. The mayor of New York renounced after being found in the arms of a sophisticated prostitution ring. As if the deception he caused those who voted for him wasn™t enough, he subjected his wife to the humiliation of standing quietly beside him as he declared his mea culpa.

Frei Betto zu Libyen-Krieg: http://www.hart-brasilientexte.de/2011/03/22/gaddafi-und-die-westlichen-machte-wie-brasiliens-wichtigster-befreiungstheologe-frei-betto-den-libyen-konflikt-bewertet-der-diskurs-des-westens-ist-demokratie-das-interesse-ist-ol-wie-bras/

http://www.hart-brasilientexte.de/2011/03/18/barack-obama-zieht-sich-angesichts-geplanter-proteste-in-rios-opernhaus-zuruck-rede-nicht-mehr-vor-bevolkerung-sondern-vor-handverlesenen/

The vice mayor took over and also publicly confessed to not being a saint. The difference is that all this has now become ”marriage counselling on a world scale. Both admit before the cameras that they have betrayed the other.  Without a doubt this makes forgiveness easier. Only those who admit to their own error are capable of forgiving another. The Pharisee, Jesus says, is able to see the splinter in the other™s eye but not the wooden beam in his own (Mt 7:3).North American morals are profoundly marked by analytical ideology; they see the tree but do not see the woods. Nixon fell because he invaded the Democratic Party™s installations. Clinton asked for forgiveness before TV cameras after practising adultery with a White House worker. Elliot Spitzer left the New York administration when he was caught with his pants down after spending a fortune on prostitutes.What about the woods? What do morals Made in USA say in relation to the disrespect of human rights as practised on a large scale by Nixon and Clinton? Why is it considered moral to invade Iraq and to provoke genocide (89,000 civilians and 4,000 American soldiers dead since 2003); to practice torture in the prison of Abu Ghraib in Baghdad; to kidnap supposed terrorists in Europe and confine them to the prison hell of Guantanamo navel base all of which are against the principles of Law? Is it moral to keep a country like Puerto Rico deprived of its sovereignty and independence for 110 years? Is it moral to sacrifice little Cuba with a blockade for 48 years?Perhaps the root of these fundamentalist morals which blame sexual deviation and condescendingly accept genocide results from a wrong reading of the Bible. King David, the biblical personage about whom we have the most information, is a good example. He was punished for committing adultery with Bathsheba, Uriah™s wife. Uriah was killed by order of the king who was interested in having access to the desired woman™s bed. (2 Samuel 11)David was a warrior before and after he ascended the throne. He killed thousands of enemies (the Philistine and Moabite armies, 18,000 Edomites, 40,000 Arameans etc.) all in the name of God. There is no evidence that he repented or, in the case of Bathsheba, that he was punished.This is the legacy of a certain biblical exegesis which envelops us: to kill one makes me a murderer, to kill millions makes me a hero. Ask Bush. ”The Bad Sleep Well is the title of a film by Akiro Kurosawa.

As long as our idea of God permits us to invoke Him as an accomplice of our selfish and petty interests such as the control of oil in the Middle East, we will continue faithful to the Abrahamic syndrome of sacrifice “ the idea that God demanded that Abraham sacrifice his only son Isaac but because He was not satisfied, He later sacrificed Jesus on the cross. For what is supposedly a greater good (democracy ruled by those who are very rich) a nation is sacrificed.

A more contextualized reading helps us understand that Yahweh did not accept Abraham killing Isaac in the name of a new monotheistic faith.   The polytheistic cults had demanded archaic rites of sacrifice of the first born. Yahweh made Abraham see that He is the God of life and not of death. Thus he saved Isaac from Abraham™s religious myopia. (Genesis 22).

By the same token Jesus did not die in order to placate the thirst for sacrificial blood of a God who, when offended, becomes a killer more cruel than King Herod. Jesus was murdered by two political powers.

Contrary to Made in USA morals, Jesus was all forgiving towards the adulterous woman, the prodigal son, Peter who denied him, but rigorously demanding with those who made the Temple of God “ the Universe, the Earth, human life “ into a den of thieves. In everyday language, the judgment of God is relentless when the sacredness of life is left to one side in benefit of the market™s monetary interests.

*Frei Betto is a writer, author of the biography of Jesus ”Entre todos os homens (Amongst All Men) (Atica).

About the Author

He is a Brazilian Dominican with an international reputation as a liberation theologian.
Within Brazil he is equally famous as a writer, with over 52 books to his name.  In 1985 he won Brazil™s most important literary prize, the Jabuti, and was elected Intellectual of the Year by the members of the Brazilian Writers™ Union. Frei Betto has always been active in Brazilian social movements, and has been an adviser to the Church™s ministry to workers in Sáo Paulo™s industrial belt, to the Church base communities, and to the Landless Rural Workers™ Movement (MST).In 2003-2004, he was Special Adviser to President Lula and Coordinator of Social Mobilisation for the Brazilian Government™s Zero Hunger programme.