No one’s soul is saved. No one is called to look the poor in the eye and help them directly.

Poverty is largely a chosen condition. One other group which chooses it are the poor immigrants, legal and otherwise. Because poverty here is preferable to destitution back home. We should remember how these chosen poor start there, but move to other levels rather quickly. That’s an aspect of American poverty that is often overlooked in the hand-wringing we see, including that of Church leaders who mis-apprehend the problem and are complicit in corrupt solutions.

Does the church do enough? It does not, but I would argue that in part we fail to combat the problem of poverty adequately in the church because we think the duty has been subcontracted out to the state. The larger the state becomes, the less air is left in the community space for everyone else, especially the church because we buy into the idea of a secular state.

Brilliant.

And exactly right.