Letter to the editor: Letter about Walter Block was misleading
Issue date: 12/9/08 Section: Opinion
The Nov. 18 letter by Professor John Donahue, S.J., regarding Dr. Walter Block was extremely misleading. Yes, Dr. Block was insulting to some when he said the Jesuit order was "hijacked" by Marxists. But he was speaking the truth since, as he explained, "liberation theology," with its roots in Marxian class analysis, has indeed become a large part of the Jesuit scholarly tradition.
This is even recognized on the Wikipedia entry for "liberation theology," which says it "has enjoyed widespread influence...among the Jesuits" despite the fact that Pope John Paul II "harshly admonished" it and Pope Benedict XVI has "long been an opponent" of certain "strains" of the ideology.
According to Wikipedia, which uses several reputable sources, "its theologians consider sin the root source of poverty, recognizing sin as capitalism, and capitalism as class war by the rich against the poor."
This, of course, is the thoroughly discredited ideology of Marxist communism that plagued the twentieth century and condemned millions to poverty and misery.
I found Professor Donahue's attempt to associate Professor Block, the recipient of Loyola University New Orleans' Dux Academicus Award last year, with murderous thugs in Central America to have been absolutely malevolent.
Thomas DiLorenzo, Ph. D.
Professor of Economics
This is even recognized on the Wikipedia entry for "liberation theology," which says it "has enjoyed widespread influence...among the Jesuits" despite the fact that Pope John Paul II "harshly admonished" it and Pope Benedict XVI has "long been an opponent" of certain "strains" of the ideology.
According to Wikipedia, which uses several reputable sources, "its theologians consider sin the root source of poverty, recognizing sin as capitalism, and capitalism as class war by the rich against the poor."
This, of course, is the thoroughly discredited ideology of Marxist communism that plagued the twentieth century and condemned millions to poverty and misery.
I found Professor Donahue's attempt to associate Professor Block, the recipient of Loyola University New Orleans' Dux Academicus Award last year, with murderous thugs in Central America to have been absolutely malevolent.
Thomas DiLorenzo, Ph. D.
Professor of Economics
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