By Marv Knox
Our Bible study class has been reading from the Old Testament prophet Amos in the weeks leading up to Easter. This is the season the church calls Lent, a period of preparation for commemorating Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. It’s a time to feel the anguish of God’s sorrow, inflicted by a wayward world. It’s an opportunity to imagine Jesus’ loneliness as he “set his face toward Jerusalem” and death on the cross. It’s an occasion to empathize with all the pain and anger and hurt experienced today by people for whom justice and righteousness seem like fairy-tale dreams.
Amos prophesied on behalf of God 2,860 years ago. He preached in Israel, the northern kingdom, past its prime. Geo-political observers worried about the rising power of competing nations. Israel’s leaders manipulated religion for personal and political gain. The gap between upper and lower classes widened, as the powerful exploited their positions for greater privilege, while the poor suffered.
Amos’ sermons sound as if he could stand and deliver them today. Parents look across the social, political and economic landscape and worry about their children’s future. Countries we once considered third-rate threaten us economically, scientifically and technologically. Our politicians make a mockery of religion, and more distressing, the pastors who should think and act theologically enable them. And the economic forces driving our country reward an ever-smaller and ever-richer elite, while more and more working families fall into poverty, subsist on food pantries and eke out existence one paycheck away from homelessness.
This cover package focuses on poverty in America. Here are a few facts:
• U.S. poverty is the highest it’s been in 50 years.
• We’re still the richest nation in history, but our poverty rate exceeds all Western industrialized nations.
• A record 45.7 million Americans survive on what we used to call food stamps.
• If faith groups were to take over the five key government programs that assist the needy, each congregation would need to add $1.5 million to its annual budget.
• The latest national budget offered to Congress would redistribute wealth upward, increasing poverty while cutting programs that assist the neediest Americans.
One particularly dispiriting aspect of reporting the status of poverty in America is recognizing the fact that many Baptists and other Americans who claim the name of Christ are more offended by a report about poverty and injustice than they are by poverty and injustice themselves.
Every time I advocate on behalf of government programs designed to meet the needs of the most vulnerable members of our society, readers respond that poverty alleviation is not the government’s job, and the church should do it. Well, at least now we know the cost. Does your church contribute $1.5 million to help the poor, the aged, the ill and children in awful conditions? Do you give your fair share of that $1.5 million?
Obviously, congregations can’t do it alone. We the people share responsibility to those on whose behalf Amos advocated and whom Jesus called “the least of these.” Of course, we should reward hard work and ingenuity and provide incentives for business to grow. And we certainly praise generous philanthropists.
But if we’re going to break the cycle of poverty and also allow our nation to prosper, we must provide immediate care for the most vulnerable, solid education for all, affordable health care and decent wages so working parents can raise their children in hope and security. We must offer both training and mentors – to parents as well as children – so we can reset generational attitudes that contribute to poverty. And we must supply realistic opportunities for all people to live safe, decent, modest lives.
Some may protest that poverty and income disparity are ancient problems. They afflicted Israel in Amos’ day, and they probably will be around another 2,860 years. That is correct. But remember this: The people who heard Amos’ message didn’t care. And so God allowed their nation to fall and their children to be carried into captivity. God despises empty religion and punishes selfishness and apathy.