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| Socialist
Party
USA:
Faith & Socialism Holiday Greeting |
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by Josh Hatala, Faith & Socialism
Commission member
The Holidays are a time filled with stark contradictions. While
most religions offer inspiring
messages of peace and love, commercial enterprises attempt to put a price tag on every
human emotion and social relation. But the shiniest presents in the world can’t hide
the raw inequalities that exist in our country and across the globe. This
Holiday season, as a member of the Faith and Socialism Commission, I
ask you to consider what really matters
- our communities, our planet and the cause of social justice.
What
lessons do the scriptures offer religious Socialists during this time
of the
year? For Jewish people, the story of Hanukkah commemorates a miracle
attesting to God’s love for His
people, as well as fidelity to truth in times of hardship. Within the story of the
rededication of the temple after persecution by Antiochus IV, and the unexpected
burning of lamp oil for eight days, lies another truth- perhaps more interesting and
sadly still relevant today. At the core of the Hanukkah story is a celebration of the
Jewish victory over the Seleucid Empire. Then, as now, peoples
living
under the domination of empires are subject to the will of that empire- whether it be the
Seleucids or a modern-day empire of global capital. The minority Jews stood little
chance against this mighty empire, yet they fought for the continuation of
their communities, their customs, and their beliefs. They stood up to empire- and won.
There
is also a message of liberation within the familiar Christmas story. In
the
context of the Roman Empire, the most powerful empire the world had
ever seen, a boy was born to a mother
who, as tradition has it, declared:
“
He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the
hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent empty away.”
During
his time on Earth, Jesus exalted and fed the poor and castigated the
rich who
had made idols of their earthly wealth, declaring that, “It is easier
for a camel to go through the eye
of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” - a saying important
enough to Jesus’ disciples to be included in three of the four canonical
Gospels.
How
might Jesus respond to the massive disparities in wealth in the United
States?
Or to the fact that 50 million people -including almost one in four
children-
struggled this past year to obtain sufficient food? How would He react
to global
inequalities such as the sad fate of the 18,000 children who die each
day from
hunger? What would He have to say about the wars initiated by
modern empires? It seems obvious in
these cases whom he would rebuke, and whom he would aid- which system he would
indict, and which he would promote.
Jesus
turned the “worldly” wisdom of His day on its head and taught that His
kingdom
is a kingdom of justice for the oppressed, where the mightiest of this
world are in fact the lowest in
His. Jesus placed God’s kingdom of peace and justice in direct opposition to an
unjust system of imperial rule.
This
holiday season let us not forget those who like the Jews of Judea, or
the early
followers of Jesus, suffer at the hands of empires. Let’s
remember the enduring light the Jews
commemorate, or the “light of the world” that Jesus became to his followers, as
symbols of hope for the future. With this hope let’s act with
resolve
to challenge injustice, defeat the modern empires, and build bonds with
our fellow
humans strong enough to make real the message of peace and love that is
so central
to the holiday season. Our traditions show us that this is possible
and, just as importantly, that we
are on the right side of history when we do so.
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