1 December 2005

From The Sins of Sin-Talk in "Do No Harm" by Stephen G. Ray, Jr.

Today we continue with the discussion of the "welfare-queen.
...the conditions of grinding poverty that many in our nation endure are spuriously attributed exclusively to the pathological communities of the welfare queen and her scions. The problem is thus framed in terms of dealing with the irresponsibility of the welfare queen and not in terms of the need for society to interpret what equality and opportunity mean in a postindustrial age.

It is as though we work at missing the point. As long as there are people we can "label" and there are those who actions we can dirty with our talk of sin, we do not need to deal with the real needs within our society. It is so easy to point at the so-called "welfare queen" than it is to make sure we as a society look after the welfare of all. I am always amazed that even when there are attempts to discuss and then plan for ways to deliver such basics as a consistent and thorough healthcare system, there are still those who laugh at the conversation. This is done by simply spending time developing a system of sin-talk that will show us why it cannot work because we will have so many of "those" people taking advantage of the program because that is what they essentially do. It simply may be to difficult for us to turn our backs on the power we can try to take when we have someone else that we are able to put down or upon whom we can place the sins of society. Christian love is a love that begins with a vision...and that vision is the face of Christ in the face of all those we encounter.

Connection: One way to deal with sin-talk that puts a heavy weight on those around us who become the victims of such talk is to counter that talk with talk of one's worth and dignity and the image of God.

Lord, make us those instruments of peace that begin to draw us together into one people who are blessed by our diversity and blessed by your power to bind us together for new life. Amen.