I commend the Dalai Lama and Olympic protesters for their peaceful condemnation of China's communist government and its efforts to suppress religious autonomy.
China's Marxist government falsely presents itself as the authentic spokesman for the aspirations of the people, and claims to be able, though by recourse to violent means, to bring about the radical changes which will put an end to the oppression and misery of people.
Marxist communism is characterized by the "class struggle," which implies that society is founded on violence. Within this perspective, any reference to ethical requirements calling for courageous and radical institutional and structural reforms makes no sense. In this system, every affirmation of faith or of theology is subordinated to a political criterion, which in turn depends on the class struggle, the driving force of history.
Participation in the class struggle is presented as a requirement of charity itself. The desire to love everyone here and now, despite his class, and to go out to meet him with the non-violent means of dialogue and persuasion, is denounced as counterproductive.
The Tibetan cause is a reminder that religious freedom is a fundamental right that precedes the state and which cannot be severely curtailed or denied by it. Put more broadly, and as Pope John Paul II put it, religious freedom is the "first freedom." It is "the premise and guarantee of all freedoms that ensure the common good."
Paul Kokoski.
Hamilton, Ontario
