2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumOur Lady of Guadalupe: Third Way or One Way?
Mexico was in crisis. The bloody Spanish had invaded. The people were being enslaved and exterminated. The Church had no use for "pagans" as they dubbed the Aztecs--even though the Aztec religion called for extremes of asceticism and moral purity that made Europeans of the time seem like the most debauched sinners. And then, a miracle. An enslaved Aztec priest had a vision at a mountain holy to an Aztec goddess, Tonantzin. He saw a mixed race---European and Native American---woman dressed in a blue mantle surrounded by light. Addressing him in his own religion, she asked why he was afraid and told him
"Am I not your mother?"
Natives converted to Catholicism. Or rather, their own brand of Catholicism. They honored Mary above Jesus. They called Mary "Tonantzin." And, centuries later, when Mexico drove out Spain, they did so under the banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Were those early Mexicans who co-opted Mary to become their own Goddess members of a Medieval "Third Way"? Did they sully the purity of their own religion, set back their own cause--freedom from colonial rule---by working within the system? Or, did they subvert the message of the conquerers which was "Everything belongs to Spain" by finding a tiny germ of decency, a bit of common ground upon which all could stand and flourish?
It is easier to cut away the old---say, on a guillotine---than to change hearts and minds. You do not change hearts and minds by declaring much of the world---and the people who exist in it--- evil, corrupt, taboo, "corporate." It does not work for ISIS and it does not work in the US.
Hillary Clinton has been ridiculed, excoriated, damned for attempting to find common ground with conservatives via their Christian faith. But their Christian faith is the only germ of decency that many on the right still possess. When one contemplates the true meaning of Christianity, one realizes that the message is one of universal love, equality and a willingness to change.
"I have come to cast fire upon the world."
The best kind of fire does not merely sweep away the past. It lays down a fertile soil on which the future can grow. And if we are to achieve peace in our lifetime, we must be able to engage the hearts and minds of everyone. Come together.
Romulox
(25,960 posts)TM99
(8,352 posts)Look the 'third way' has a meaning. Bobbio and Cameron defined it as "a position that tries to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of right-wing economic and left-wing social policies."
This weird OP has nothing to do with either economics or social policies.
You obviously lack any real understanding of Our Lady of Guadalupe either.
And Clinton embraced religious right wing thought to the point where her social policies were anything but leftist or liberal. She helped to deny LGBT citizens their rights and the ability to marry because 'marriage is a sacred pack between one man and one woman' for decades.
To me, Clinton is further right than most Third Way New Dems even are. She espouses not only right-wing economic policies, but also must evolve on left-wing social ones and is neocon in her foreign policy hawkishness.
Nice try...no I can't even give you that...this is an utter failure of an OP on so many levels.
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)When I went online without logging in, I found a post in which someone said "You do not understand Our lady of Guadalupe."
Anyone who was experienced the miracle of Our Lady knows that you do not "understand" her.
Our Lady would not block anyone at DU---but then, she is an abstraction. I am a human being. I am not required to carry the weight of anyone else's attachment on my shoulders---and it is a very liberating feeling. My own are heavy enough.
Peace be will you.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)What next...HRC as Sacagawea?
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)You do realize that the people you're talking about - right wing Christians - are the ones who are trying to take away Muslim's, women's and lgbt rights, right?
They're not using their faith to love their neighbors, they're using it to persecute them. Just like they always have.
I'll see your 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' and raise you one 'Jesus Christ on a trailer hitch'.
Autumn
(45,120 posts)If I thought any idiot politician seriously felt that way I wouldn't vote for that politician if the devil himself were their opponent. I'd have to pull that lever for the devil, it would be, to me to be a bit more honorable and decent.
It was her son who said "I have come to cast fire upon the world."