Paulo Freire, a Christian-Marxist

ENG 121

Instructor: Martin Ley

Formal Paper #4

By: Valerie A Perron

Date: 10-25-10

Paulo Freire, a Christian-Marxist

In this paper, I will be addressing the topic of how Christianity and Marxism cannot be yoked together. Let me first state that the kind of Christianity Paulo Freire says he believes in, is Catholicism. The Catholic Church tends to have beliefs that are not completely true to the Word of God because they take some scripture out of context. I do not claim to be of any certain doctrine of Christianity; however, I do claim that I am a Bible believing Christian. Everything I believe comes directly from the Bible and without distorting its words; I believe exactly what it says. For this reason, I have a problem with Freire's belief system.

I believe Freire must pick either Christianity or Marxism. I think he is "riding the fence" on his choice of beliefs. If he continues to say he practices both, then he will always be questioning himself in more areas than one. When someone hears the combination of a Christian-Marxist, their first reaction will usually be "that's an oxymoron," or "that's impossible." How can they actually say they are Christian-Marxists, knowing that all they believe in is constantly contradicting itself? Freire will always, in my opinion, be questioning himself if, unless he looks into either one of the beliefs. Perhaps he will change his mind completely.

After doing some research on Marxism, I do not believe Freire understands the full extent of it, which is why he believes himself to be Christian as well. In the article The "Banking" Concept of Education, Freire believes in the individual fighting against being robotic, but Marxism (like communism) has the belief of controlling the free choices of the people's individualism. In other words he believes that the students can be individuals, which contradicts his Marxism beliefs, which is a "group effort." So how can he call himself a Marxist if he doesn't fully agree with the ideology of Marxism itself?

Marxism has no firm foundation; it was founded on atheism, communism, humanism, and socialism. Those four beliefs all contradict the Biblical faith of Christianity. Moreover, historically Marxism has been shown not to work. After all, Karl Marx was an Atheist. "Marxists deny any morality based on God's character and commandments." (The Illustrated Guide to World Religions, Halverson, 162). If that is what a Marxist believes, then that is one way Freire cannot be a Christian as well. He would be going against his beliefs as a Marxist.

Marxists also do not believe in the existence of a Creator. Atheists believe in Darwin's theory of evolution. Therefore, if Freire is a "true Marxist," then he must deny God as being the Creator, but then he would be denying his beliefs as a Marxist. Even more so Marxists have always opposed the ideas of religion, after all Marxism was founded by an atheist. As we have seen over and over from history, Christianity and Marxism do not mix.

One well-known (but corrupted) Marxist was Josef Stalin. He was leader of the communist party in Russia, and responsible for the deaths of many innocent lives. "He instituted the most brutal form of totalitarian