It’s going to be a busy weekend. We have a conference on economic justice at University Methodist church starting tonight. The purpose of the conference is described in the attached Op-ed, which is also on the editorial page of today’s Austin American Statesman. The conference is bringing in major theologians to speak about the link between faith and economic justice for the poor.
Then I’ll be speaking at a rally for women’s health care that will take place at the capital Saturday from 4-6. This should be a very powerful event with some very dynamic women leading the way.
Hopefully, by Sunday I can get a sermon together, and then in the evening there will be a vigil to advocate for sweatshop workers.
Very busy weekend, but very wonderful.
The following was emiled to AAS in response to Jim Rigby’s piece printed in the 4/27 paper.
Jim Rigby’s piece advocating the forced redistribution of the wealth of our nation in the name of Jesus Christ could not be a more incorrect interpretation of the teachings Jesus. He lived in an age of domination by the Roman Empire with personal slavery common and made no stated objection to either. Jesus said, “Render unto Caesar…” Paul preached to work hard to do your best in whatever circumstance you find find yourself. The Bible is full of the instruction to give to the poor, feed, cloth and comfort them. There is no instruction for the poor to take the wealth of others for their own. Rigby’s statement, …no one should get rich at other’s expense” is absurd. Who is to say what is a reasonable profit other than market forces? Or would Rigby advocate no profit which would dictate no produce for sale? Further, his statement that “the working poor are not unfortunate, they have been robbed” is ridiculous. A recent report says we have spent over $16 trillion in the war on poverty since the time of LBJ and we have more in poverty today than ever before. The poor who are working are to be commended. They are on the road out of poverty. If it were not for the encouragement of staying poor to obtain all the handouts that already exist, there would be more working poor and fewer welfare recipients.
Howard,
If oppressed people come out and say what’s on their mind they usually don’t last very long. The New Testament doesn’t directly criticize Rome until you get to Revelation, but the subtext is there if you look up the entire quotes they are giving from the prophetic scriptures. Mary’s Song is a song of predicting the rising up of the weak and the downfall of the mighty if you go back and look at the full quotes she is abbreviating.
As far as the render to Caesar quote, I think you missed his point. Remember he asked, “Whose image is on the coin?” the answer, of course is “Caesar.” But that suggests another question, whose image is on a human being? So we can’t keep Caesar from robbing us, but we should never forget that we ourselves belong to God.
When we take these quotes out of their stories we can easily misunderstand what they are saying. Have you ever noticed when they came up to Jesus to ask about taxes, he didn’t have any money? It appears he was “off the grid.”
I understand you disagree.
Jim
Ditto what Jim says. In a time of empire, it’s difficult for any of us to break free from the insidious ways that the empire defines the game and the rules.
For example, think about redistribution of wealth. When it’s the rich being taxed, it’s trickle down. When It’s the poor being given a living wage, it’s redistribution. Clearly the empire, which wants to preserve wealth and power, loves the way these words work in their favor.
As far as Jesus making no objection, it seems his entire life was a subtle, subversive objection to the Roman and the empire way of doing business through force and violence. Ultimately he hung on the cross not for offending the Pharisees, who had no power to crucify him, but for his offenses against the powers that be.
Finally, who is to say what something’s worth other than the market? You are truly showing your colors on that one. My sense is that many Christians have drunk the “market is god” koolaid and if you want to read a subtle, subversive attack on that, just look at the book of Revelation.
So we disagree, yes, but I think we disagree on how much we’re willing to let the empire and the market define who we are. I’m not inclined that way and neither is Jim, and neither are our churches, although I understand that we are a minority.
John
That’s a great point John. We call it “redistribution” or “socialism” if the public coffer is shared with someone who is poor. We call it a “stimulus package” or “incentives” if the money goes to people who are already wealthy.
The working poor have been robbed, and it’s undeniable. It’s been a given that, over the past 150+ years, the working people in America have made gains that were directly relational to the increases in productivity that their work provided. It was that sharing of the bounty from productivity gains that created the middle class in America, and allowed them to buy homes and provide a better life for their children than they themselves had as children.
However, in the past 30 years, with the introduction of PC’s and other computers into almost every job in America, our workers have had unprecedented gains in productivity, but their wages have been stagnant over those 3 decades. However, the richest in America have become incredibly more wealthy. The economic gains because of the greater productivity have gone, almost exclusively, to the wealthiest Americans, instead of being fairly spread throughout the workplace.
That means that those workers who are DIRECTLY responsible for the increases in productivity have been robbed. It’s undeniable.