disconnected from a suffering world

” Too many Christians today seem disconnected from a suffering world. In an age of massive human suffering from poverty, war, unjust social structures, and the quest for world empire, the real mystery is the moral and political complacency of middle-class American Christians.

But it’s really no mystery. It’s a reflection of a theology that places primary emphasis on individual redemption, and is frightened of political and social action on behalf of the least of humanity. It reflects a church that, by its silence and inaction, tacitly supports the status quo of the wealthy and powerful. Moreover, by supporting national wars of aggression, the church acts as a chaplain to the powers and principalities of empire. By urging personal acts of individual charity to the exclusion of acts of social justice, churches have effectively turned their backs to the real needs of the least of our brothers and sisters. “

© 2007 Kurt Struckmeyer