Tuesday, October 18, 2005

why poverty persists

Jim Wallis gives us two reasons.

"THERE ARE TWO obstacles to making real progress against poverty: the lack of priority and the lack of agreement on strategy. The poor have been near the bottom of our priority list, if they are on the list at all. It will take a moral and even religious imperative to change our priorities, but the time has come to do so. But we have also been paralyzed by the debate between liberals and conservatives on what solutions to pursue, with the Right favoring cultural changes and the Left endorsing policy changes."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

reason number three

"The poor will always be among you" -- Jesus

or is that just me being cynical?

psoup

pamela said...

perhaps a little, paul. : )

i believe Jesus was making a statement of fact, but not one intended to justify complacency within us...as Jesus also said, "whatever you do for the least of these...". it is our response to and presence among the poor and others considered "least" in the world that marks us as disciples of Christ and witnesses to the world the truth about God's love, which is not based on anything we have or achieve, but on His grace. not only so, (and this may be another post altogether in the making), but we are called to the least of these not for their sakes alone, but for the renovation of our own hearts.

soupablog said...

i was kind of bing snarky on that last comment; i do think, however, that eradicating "capital-P" Poverty itself is a chasing after the wind, where as what you're doing (working to meet peoples' needs, living and being and breathing and working among the poor, and eradicating poverty in the microcosm, is tenable.

"but we are called to the least of these not for their sakes alone, but for the renovation of our own hearts." -- so true.