The SoSA Perspective

Crisis among Children

We live in a world of immense promise and immense disappointment. It is possible for the first time in the history of our species to create a world where the ravages of poverty are a thing of the past. Our science and technological advances have created that possibility for the human race. Our spiritual and moral backwardness as a species continues to prevent us from making that possibility a reality.

It seems obvious that our scientists and technicians are a great deal better at what they do than our preachers and theologians are. Or maybe it’s just that when a scientist tells us that E = MC squared, we believe him. And when Jesus tells us “when you see your brother hungry, feed him” we do not believe. What ever the reason, we have a true crisis on our hands in the churches of our land. Our response to that crisis will determine whether we fulfill our role as moral and spiritual leaders in the world, or we become an irrelevant waste of time.

We are constantly bombarded with news of “crisis." Every week the newspapers bring a new crisis to our attention. On a good week we are treated to two or three! Most of these so called “crises” are designed to sell newspapers and very little more. However, there is a real crisis out there. It can be found right in your home town and all around the world.

In this day when we have the wealth, the capability and the know how to eliminate hunger, thirty-five thousand children die from malnutrition every single day. Ten million children die from “poverty related causes” every year. Twelve million children during the decade just past have been made homeless. In that same decade more children die from war than do soldiers. And it’s getting worse. The poorest fifth of the world's population now shares less than 1.5 percent of the world's income. Those most severely hurt by this inequity are the children.

Closer to home we find the same phenomenon. The gap in income between the richest and poorest people in the United States is widening. The poorest 20 percent of our people have only 5 percent of our nation's income. The disparity has not been that wide since the before Second World War. The hunger, homelessness, violence, neglect, retribution and despair that are ravaging our society are bred by such inequity. Those most devastated by all this are the children. And it’s getting worse.

In fact, if statistical trends continue, conditions will get much worse. We must speak and act in these times as the true followers of Jesus. Our actions must be full of the compassion of the Christ who fed the hungry, healed the sick, and befriended the outcast and the orphan. Our words must be full of the indignation of the Christ who drove the officially ordained and elected thieves from the temple because they made it hard for the poor to get to God’s house. Our actions must be full of the resolve of the Christ who lived, ate and drank with the “unclean” because he saw that God much preferred their company to that of the successful “Righteous ones."

Speaking and acting for and with the poor is not an option for us as people of faith. It is the only path to salvation.