Clergy Members March Alongside "Occupy Wall Street" Protesters

[struggle4progress]

The "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrators who have been camping in Lower Manhattan for more than three weeks to protest the country's economic inequality marched to Washington Square Park on Sunday, and members of the clergy joined them in solidarity.

Chanting as they marched around the perimeter of Zuccotti Park, an interfaith coalition of Muslims, Jews and Christians carried a golden reproduction of the "Wall Street" bull, symbolizing greed and the biblical "golden calf" that was idolized as a false god.

"This is a symbol of our spiritual poverty in this country, of how far we've come from the basic principles of what we are supposed to be doing in this country," said the Reverend Michael Ellick of Judson Memorial Church.

"This golden calf is a symbol of the economic slavery Americans have allowed themselves to be trapped by," said activist Warren Goldstein ...

http://www.ny1.com/content/news_beats/politics/148637/clergy-members-march-alongside--occupy-wall-street--protesters/

[grasswire]

1. here's the site for chaplains for protests

http://protestchaplains.blogspot.com

[Warpy]

2. Good, I was hoping this would happen

Liberal clergy (the ones who got the point) were usually in the forefront of these things years ago. This is better late than never, though, and it's certainly a welcome addition.

[roguevalley]

3. it always does. people of conscience always step up.

[JDPriestly]

4. I have often wondered about this.

The worship of the golden calf -- mammon -- satan -- evil in Biblical terms.

How in the world these right-wing "Christians" (especially the evangelicals) justify their right-wing politics and their preoccupation with money and excessive support of the gambling they call "investing" mystifies me?

Some of them rationalize their greed by "giving" money to charity.

But often in exchange for that charity, they get some sort of perks or a lot of control over how the charities function. One example is giving to their churches to build recreational facilities they will tell you are for the children in the church but where the adults (including the donors) also participate in sports. Another is serving on the boards of directors of schools or non-profits of other kinds, hospitals, etc. They are appointed to the boards either because they "give" or in the hope that they will give, and the usually do give in order to have control over social services that poorer people don't have. How much professional expertise goes into program planning depends on the project. Poor people don't very often get asked to serve on the boards of charitable non-profits although some non-profits invite a couple of token poor just to impress grant-givers. The poor normally have to accept the "gifts" that the charitable donors, i.e., the rich "give" to them. The poor pay a huge price in terms of self-esteem and self-confidence when they accept these gifts.

And of course, the really, really rich get their names on things, on foundations, on buildings or just on donor walls. Middle class and poor people make big sacrifices just to give a little bit.

I am always reminded of Jesus' story of the widows' mite. The widows' mite might get the widow a listing of her name in a long list of donors nowadays.

But we know from Jesus' story that the widows' mite is as meaningful as the gifts of those who get their names on the buildings.