“American preachers
have a task more difficult, perhaps, than those faced by us under South
Africa's apartheid, or Christians under Communism. We had obvious evils to
engage; you have to unwrap your culture from years of red, white and blue myth.
You have to expose, and confront, the great disconnect between the kindness,
compassion and caring of most American people, and the ruthless way American
power is experienced, directly and indirectly, by the poor of the earth. You
have to help good people see how they have let their institutions do their
sinning for them. This is not easy among people who really believe that their
country does nothing but good, but it is necessary, not only for their future,
but for us all.”
"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men. And they sit before you as My people … with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness. A horrible thing is committed in the land; The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and My people love to have it so. All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not you after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen of men.
"This people draw nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honor Me with
their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Why do you call Me, “Lord,
Lord”, and do not the things which I say? Not every one that says unto Me,
“Lord, Lord”, shall enter into the
-- Excerpts from the Bible: Isaiah 29:13; Ezekiel 33: 31; Jeremiah 5: 30, 31; Matthew 23: 3-5; Matthew 15: 8, 9; Luke 6:46; Matthew 7:21, 23
"Goals like clean water for all; school
for every child; medicine for the afflicted, an end to extreme and senseless
poverty … are the Beatitudes for a globalized world. A wise man told me “Stop
asking God to bless what you're doing. Get involved in what God is doing -
because it's already blessed.”
"Well, God is with the poor. That, I believe, is what God is doing. And that is
what he's calling us to do. …I truly believe that when the history books are
written, our age will be remembered for three things: the war on terror, the
digital revolution, and what we did - or did not do [for the poor of the world.] … History, like God, is
watching what we do."
-- From Bono's Address to the
2006 National Prayer Breakfast in
It's been said that Church membership does not make you a Christian any more than owning a piano makes you a musician! And if your Christianity doesn't involve helping the poor then maybe you need to take a closer look at what your religion teaches.
Along these lines, one ponders how the world at large measures America's religious values, a nation once regarded as a the most Christian nation in the world, by what it says and what it does.
Apart from mission work to the poor of the world, reaching
out to people on a human level was once a much larger part of
Take two examples of large, predominantly Muslim countries,
The number of Pakistanis
with a favorable opinion of the
At the same time, the number of Pakistanis who disapproved of Osama bin Laden doubled
at almost the exact same percentage as those who became favorable to the
The effects of American aid in response to the Pakistani earthquake were clear:
78 percent of Pakistanis said that American aid to earthquake victims has made
them favorable to the
This data from