GOD OF THE STATUS QUO
By Al Staggs
MANY, BOTH RICH AND POOR
MAY VERY WELL BELIEVE
THAT THE WAY THINGS ARE, ECONOMICALLY,
IN THE UNITED STATES,
IS JUST WHAT GOD INTENDED.
“GOD WILLED IT,” AS LOS POBRES
IN LATIN AMERICA BELIEVED
BEFORE LIBERATION THEOLOGY
CHALLENGED THAT AGE-OLD ASSUMPTION
AND MADE OBSOLETE, INTERPRETATIONS
OF BIBLICAL TEXTS THAT FAILED TO APPLY
THE RADICAL NATURE OF THE TEACHINGS
OF JESUS AND THE HEBREW PROPHETS.
FOR THE STORY OF THE EXODUS
IS NOT ONLY A STORY ABOUT THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL
ESCAPING FROM THE TYRANNY OF EGYPT,
IT IS A PARADIGM FOR OPPRESSED PEOPLE
FOR ALL TIMES.
“PREACHING GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR
AND LIBERATION OF THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, “
HAS FAR REACHING APPLICATION TO THE CURRENT
ECONOMIC DISPARITY BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR.
JESUS IS NOT LIMITING SALVATION TO INDIVIDUAL, ISOLATED SOULS,
BUT EXTENDING TRUE LIBERATION FOR ALL HUMANKIND
FROM BONDAGE AND SERVITUDE TO ANY EMPIRE
THAT REWARDS THE RICH AT THE EXPENSE OF THE POOR.
IT IS THOSE WHO PROFIT MOST WHO ARE THE CREATORS
AND SUSTAINERS OF THE PRESENT STATUS QUO
AND THEY ARE NOT GODS.
THEY ARE DEMONS WHO MAKE THEIR DEALS
UNDER THE RUSE OF LAW AND ORDER,
THEY ARE PURVEYORS OF SYSTEMIC VIOLENCE.
I CANNOT BELIEVE IN A GOD WHO WOULD SO ORDER
AN ECONOMIC SYSTEM THAT ONLY A FEW WOULD HAVE SUCH
HUGE SURPLUSES WHILE TENS OF MILLIONS DO WITHOUT.
I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT GOD IS PLEASED
WITH OUR STATUS QUO
AND OUR CONTENTMENT TO LET IT REMAIN SO.
