It is not enough

Joseph McCartin writes of the increasingly high profile of religious leaders in the fight for economic justice, specifically the fight for living wage jobs.

It is not surprising that religious leaders have been conspicuously present on many of the fast food workers' picket lines. The recent protests have seen priests and ministers, rabbi and imams joining hands with fast food workers. The nation's largest labor-religious coalition, Interfaith Worker Justice, which is sponsoring Labor Day prayer services in cities across the country honoring the dignity of labor, has taken up their cause. So has Rev. Cheri Kroon, of the Flatbush Reform Church in Brooklyn. In April Rev. Kroon told the New York Times that her community was "filled with fast-food workers who have been suffering due to low wages, no sick days and unsafe working conditions."

Religious engagement is important in creating an economic system that values the contribution of all. Work without dignity is slavery. McCartin sees religious leaders speaking out on the "poverty wages" being paid by the richest corporations on the planet as critical for progress. Yes, it does indeed the warm the heart to see people of faith raise their voices.

The big question is whether this appeal to the larger conscience of our society will bring about a charge in the cold hearts of capitals of industry. McCartin raised my doubts with this:

The faith leaders now rallying to support fast food workers' demands for a living wage are reviving one of America's oldest and most powerful arguments for social justice, one deeply rooted in religious ideals. Many of those marching today for a fifteen-dollar wage for fast food workers might not realize that the very term "living wage" was first popularized by an American Roman Catholic priest, Monsignor John A. Ryan. In 1906 Fr. Ryan published a book called A Living Wage, which argued that workers deserved to earn enough to support themselves and their families in dignity. Over the next three decades, Ryan emerged as the nation's most forceful moral advocate for minimum wage. Many saw the passage of the federal minimum wage law in 1938 as a fulfillment of Ryan's long crusade.

So there is a history of success. The collapse of Wall Street and the Great Depression brought hardship, but it also brought reforms thanks in part to powerful religious voices.

Take a longer view. Appealing for corporate and government reforms was successful in the short run in improving living standards for people at the bottom of the economic ladder. But in the long run, the corporations eventually bought off politicians and found new ways to exploit the labor market. Corporate profits have never been higher yet economic economic opportunities are few, especially for the pesky peasants.

Just because faith leadership is not going to successfully plant compassion in the hearts of corporate leaders does not mean we should not try. However, rather than rolling the same stone up the same hill and hoping for better results, perhaps we should reconsider the stone.

Charity, government programs, and speaking out for compassion have all proven to be ineffective. Part of the problem is that the tangible commodity in charity and government programs is money. Whether you encourage people to give money to help those in need in the form of donations or taxes, the end result is the same. In the best of times, charities and government assistance try to make poverty less painful. When times are tough, the rich blame the poor for the bad economy and demand to stop providing material assistance to them. The 2012 election cycle produced record individual and corporate contributions to politicians, many of which took to the stump to disparage the poor and demand cuts to government assistance.

We need a new approach. There are growing pockets of poverty in rural, suburban, and urban America. These are broken communities plagued by violence, substance abuse, high costs, and no opportunities. Demanding more money for charity or government assistance will not heal these broken communities. We need innovation. A better stone to roll up the hill.

I support speaking out for living wage jobs, but it will not heal captains of industry of their greed. I support a safety net for the homeless, hungry, unemployed, sick, disabled, and old, but it will not heal broken communities and families. If the 20th century taught us anything it is that the tension between greed and compassion favors pigs.

I believe the Holy Spirit can lead those of us with ears to hear and hearts to listen. We can come up with better approaches to heal communities plagued with few opportunities and painful obstacles. Christ expects us to follow his example to heal and spread the love of God. Mammon-worshiping capitalists are no match for God's love. The Lord also said the rich will pay a terrible price for their greed. Justice is coming. Our job is to heal suffering in God's name.