By Zachary Bailes
Well, the ceiling has been raised. While compromise has been reached in Washington D.C., the debate is not over. For months the debates will rage, and pundits will continue to put on their boxing gloves for the Battle Royale.
As America shut down congressional phone lines with incessant pleas to pass the debt ceiling and watched press conference after press conference, I could only wonder about the lack of concern for the poor.
Raising the debt ceiling was not about debt, but taxes. From both sides of the aisle different ideas concerning taxes were tossed around, but finding consensus remained difficult.
People of faith engaged this debt crisis from varied points of view, and no doubt their opinions are as varied as those in Congress. Yet my concern, as a Christian and a Baptist, is for the “least of these.”
Federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid were created to step in where society has stepped out. Federal assistance is provided to those that for generations have been subjugated to institutional oppression. For many of these, the idea of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” remains impossible. After all, they don’t have any money to buy boots.
If conservatives, religious and political alike, want less government involvement then they must start giving like it. We need federal funding for programs because we have failed to act like the “Christian nation” so many say we are.
If we were truly a “Christian” nation we would sacrifice more, complain less and share in life together for the common good — not just the good of the elite.
Baptist identity possesses the remarkable opportunity to challenge progress for all people. Economic justice will not arrive until we, Baptists, live out our love for “local autonomy.”
People in every city, from sea to shining sea, carry the burden of a depleted economy. We have placed blame on them for not succeeding when it was privileged persons who whisked the jobs away. Baptists must remember and hold onto the prophetic voice that protects and inspires all people.
Jesus took a risk in reaching out to the least of these. Those society castigated, Jesus embraced.
We must not lose, amidst the trillions and billions, the millions that suffer everyday. We must not forget that economic injustice is not settled with a debt deal or bailout.
Economic injustice dwindles, however slowly, when congregations organize to bring businesses to destitute communities. Economic justice arrives when we stop fighting with each other and learn that together we are better — all of us.
While the debt ceiling has been raised, let us not forget that economic injustice has razed many lives. Our congregations must bear the yoke of Christ’s call to embolden, protect and learn from the least of these.