Abstract
The oppression of human beings by human beings is sin. It is a crime against life, for life means: “Love your neighbor as yourself because he or she is like you.” It is a destruction of the love of God: “For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (I John 4:20). The oppression of other human beings is a perversion of love because it wounds, offends, and destroys the image of God on earth. Oppression always has two aspects: on the one side stand the oppressors, on the other the oppressed. On the one side stands the master, on the other side the slave; on the one side the exploiter, on the other his victim; on the one side the victor, on the other those who are subjugated.