Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
priest” was a bumper sticker-like slogan popular among El Salvador's national
guard.
Liberation Theology surged through the warfare of the 1980s. But since the
peace accords and (marginal) reforms of the 1990s, it seems to have gone dormant
as a political force. Once-activist Christians are spent. They have accepted peace
without as much justice as they once demanded. These days, in many El Salvador
churches, it's taboo to talk politics.
Traveling—whether in Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist lands—I've seen
how religion injects passion into local politics…and I've developed a healthy re-
spect for the importance of separation of religion and state. And yet, when a politi-
cized Church (such as the one that stood by the revolutionaries of Central America
in the 1980s) fights for economic justice, I find myself rooting for the politicization
of religion. My heart makes my politics inconsistent.
After the killing of Romero, the poor—emboldened by their Liberation
Theology—rebelled, plunging El Salvador into their long and bloody Civil War. The
united guerilla front (FMLN) expected a quick victory, but the US under President Reagan
spent $1.5 million a day to keep that from happening. With the success of the Sandinis-
tas in Nicaragua in July 1979, Reagan was determined to stop the spread of what he con-
sidered a communist threat.
