On the other hand, unlike the Nicaraguan history of a conjunction between liberation theology and the Sandinista government with liberation priests serving as government ministers, church and state are separated by law and in practice, thus the church accompanies the state in its goals for justice for the oppressed and poor. I ntriguingly, my own representation of myself as a liberation theologian among Cuban intellectuals despairing of hope in their revolution drew questions about the sense of a religious faith of this order, about the meanings of liberation theology in the U.S., and about links among peoples of faith throughout the hemisphere against the onslaught of neoliberal's Mammon and its oppressive practices. N evertheless, it's still a big question whether faith in the left-brain creativity of the Cuban mind and heart, or in the divine that stands with the poor, will be forces strong enough to combat what many Cubans morosely fear, the loss of their revolution to the seductions the dollar clearly represents. R adical visitors from the U.S. also represent dollar signs, even in the midst of expressions of solidarity with the goals Cubans have voiced in shared dialogues and celebrations. The blockade has divided Cubans and people from the U.S., and the dollar divides us further.
Faith is tested thoroughly when the dollars radicals bring seem to offer the only hope.
Wes Rehberg, at 58 years of age, is a liberation theologian, a longtime human rights and peace activist, and has been resourcing Christian base communities in Nicaragua and Mexico since 1991. The Gift of Resistance a Ph.D. dissertation in philosophy and liberation theology for SUNY-Binghamton.