Interfaith Leaders Want Conventions to Focus on Poverty
Sam Hodges, in The Dallas Morning News Religion blog, reports that prominent Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and Protestant leaders have asked Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama to use the presidential nominating conventions to talk about poverty.
"Interfaith leaders." The term strikes me as an admission of failure. If these people were gifted leaders, wouldn't we see more progress on resolving the arguments and divisions that afflict religion? And if they can't manage to do that, isn't it presumptuous for them to be laying a guilt trip on the political parties?
The answers are, respectively, yes and yes. That said, I, too, would like to see politicians, political parties, and government, do more to reduce the number of needy in this country. And reduce the extremes of inequality between the needy and the truly wealthy, which not only leaves too many stuck in poverty, but risks social upheaval if patience runs out for those on the bottom. Everyone loses if that happens. I just think religion's voice would have a better chance of being heard if the religious leaders quit bickering over theology.
No comments:
Post a Comment