I am not a huge fan of The Nation, largely because so many of its leading lights are glib yet ignorant on the subject of religion. But I recommend this blog entry by editor Katrina vanden Heuvel on poverty and inequality in the United States.
“These are times when the gap between the haves and have-nots in America has widened, when 37 million of our fellow citizens live in poverty (that’s 12.7% of population–the highest percentage in the developed world), and each year more are added to the poverty rolls. (Under Bush, an additional 5.4 million have slipped below the poverty line.)
Yet, poverty is, for all essential purposes, off the radar of America’s political landscape. Maybe it’s because there “are too many outrages to wake up to every morning? Maybe it’s because the poor have no lobbyists and don’t have the money to make campaign donations?”
What should people of faith be doing about the facts that she and the writers she reference present?