Archbishop Hugo Chavez?

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Did anyone read this article by Father Jonathan Morris over on Foxnews.com. Very scary to think that there might be a state sponsored religion with him as the head.

foxnews.com/story/0,2933,238015,00.html

Archbishop Hugo Chavez?
By Father Jonathan Morris
Try to imagine Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, dressed up as a bishop — the head bishop — of his own state-sponsored church.

According to media reports coming out of Latin America, President Chavez is considering a proposal that would establish him as the high priest of his own form of evangelical Christianity, convert his cabinet members into bishops of a lower rank, and submit church activities to the civil and military power of his government.

It is still unclear who is behind the proposal. Publicly, it has taken the form of a petition by leaders of “Centro Cristiano de Salvación” (Christian Center of Salvation). The association claims to represent 17,000 evangelical churches and 5,000,000 Venezuelans. Their request is simple: make their denomination the country’s official religion, teach it in all public schools and pay the pastors from government coffers. In turn, they will make Chavez their head bishop and promise to submit absolutely to his authority.

Chavez’ political critics say the petition is anything but spontaneous and independent. Edgar Zambrano, a deputy of the Venezuelan National Assembly, told the Spanish newspaper “El Mundo” that he has no doubt that “President Chavez is the one behind the proposed law.” Human rights groups are crying unfair play, warning this may be a government-orchestrated ploy to wrest away power from yet another sector of Venezuelan society, while allowing Chavez to appear to be merely acquiescing to popular acclaim.

Some call the Venezuelan leader “El Loco,” but if these reports are true, President Chavez deserves more credit. He may be crazy, but he’s not dumb. He promised the world that his recent re-election would launch the second phase of his so-called “Bolivarian Socialist Revolution” and he is now keeping his promise.
 
It could be that he’s floating these crazy ideas out there as a means to intimidate the catholic church into staying out of his business.

But I don’t think it would surprise me if he did do this. He lives in his own little weird world.
 
If I were not already convinced Chavez was a basket case . . . 😃
 
Weren’t the Czars titular heads of the Russian Church? Isn’t the English monarch the Defender of the Anglican faith? I don’t know why Hugo would want the headache, it’s not like Venezuela has one religion in common and what’s he gonna do to those who won’t submit or worship at his new Church? And exactly what benefit would accrue to him as head of Church?
 
a_cermak said:
Weren’t the Czars titular heads of the Russian Church? Isn’t the English monarch the Defender of the Anglican faith? I don’t know why Hugo would want the headache, it’s not like Venezuela has one religion in common and what’s he gonna do to those who won’t submit or worship at his new Church? And exactly what benefit would accrue to him as head of Church?
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What benefit accrued to Hitler from exterminating the Jews? What benefit accrued to Pol Pot from massacreing so many of his fellow Camodians?

Perhaps it’s uncharitable of me (and if so, Robert, accept my apology), but every time Hugo does something, I am reminded of an old saying in the Ozarks, "That boy jest ain’t right!"
 
vern_humphrey said:
What benefit accrued to Hitler from exterminating the Jews? What benefit accrued to Pol Pot from massacfreing so many of his fellow Camodians?
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I don’t think you can compare Chavez with those thugs. While he enjoys being as big a thorn in the side of the US as possible, Chavez hasn’t even managed a good disappearing regime ala Pinochet. He occasionally jails people for dissenting (memo to Hugo–not good PR, baby) but hasn’t killed anyone just for dissenting. Further he’s popular among the poor and has done more for them than any of his predecessors ever have, even if some of his strategies haven’t been well thought out. If he’d get over his god complex and learn to take criticism well, he might actually be a decent leader.

One thing I’ve noticed is that in the States, the news we get about Chavez is heavily tilted, perhaps because of his anti-US stances, perhaps because of his pro-Castro stance which sets him against the Cuban exhiles in the States, or perhaps because Chavez does not derive his power from the elite in Venezuela.
 
a_cermak said:
I don’t think you can compare Chavez with those thugs. While he enjoys being as big a thorn in the side of the US as possible, Chavez hasn’t even managed a good disappearing regime ala Pinochet. He occasionally jails people for dissenting (memo to Hugo–not good PR, baby) but hasn’t killed anyone just for dissenting. Further he’s popular among the poor and has done more for them than any of his predecessors ever have, even if some of his strategies haven’t been well thought out. If he’d get over his god complex and learn to take criticism well, he might actually be a decent leader.

One thing I’ve noticed is that in the States, the news we get about Chavez is heavily tilted, perhaps because of his anti-US stances, perhaps because of his pro-Castro stance which sets him against the Cuban exhiles in the States, or perhaps because Chavez does not derive his power from the elite in Venezuela.
Click to expand...
I didn’t mean to imply that Hugo is a Hitler or a Pol Pot – but he is a good example of what Lord Action meant when he said, “Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Men like Hugo seek power for its own sake – not merely as a means to an end.
 
He’d be an idiot to do so. Not to say that he won’t, mind you, just that he’d be an idiot.

He’s gotten where he is by cloaking himself in the garb of a populist, a leader whose main goal is to bring assistance to the little guy. Most of the little guys in Venezuala are at least nominally catholic, no? Bad move for a populist.

In my admittedly limited experience in South American demographics (Bolivian rather than Venezualen), I’ve noticed that evangelical protestant missionaries mostly go after the middle and upper class rather than the poor. If this is the case in Venezuela too, then it would alienate hime from his power base even more.
 
If I had to guess, there is more to this than it first appears. This is far too crazy even for Chavez. Perhaps the point is to make him look good by turning this down. Or perhaps to form a starting off point for somehow intimidating various churches into going along with some Chavez program or another. It is hard to say.

I think he probably is crazy enough to do this, but I think he is smart enough to have some sort of scheme behind it.

As for Chavez’s record on helping the poor, I am far from convinced. I am not yet convinced of this. After all, many tyrants will take action to gain the support of the masses. Be it more gladiatorial games, a popular little patriotic war, or buying support with money, jobs, and bread; it is not uncommon for these popular measures to wind up being simply means to further political power.

Though I like to keep in mind something I heard said about politicians in Washington. We should not ascribe to malice that which can be equally well explained by incompetence.

In this case, maybe that means he means well but that he really is crazy (and not like a fox).
 
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