The Welfare of the People Will Be the Supreme Law: Remarks for the Launch of the New Poor People's Campaign

          My Sunday School class has been studying Scripture and Poverty, in preparation for the Poor People’s Campaign and this Forty Days of Moral Action.

          It was not news to us that the Bible has a lot to say about wealth and poverty, but as we dug into it, we were struck by just how much there is.  Over 2000 passages in the Bible directly address how a people should live together, and how they should share the resources which God has given them.  ALL of them—EVERY SINGLE ONE demands that it is the responsibility of every faithful person and every institution to care for the least among us, and then to work for a world in which, in the words of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, “the powerful are brought down and the hungry are filled with good things.”

           Inside the Missouri statehouse are 197 senators and representatives, almost all of whom claim to be faithful Christians.  People who have studied the same commands my folks are studying on Sunday mornings.  They know that God has commanded all Christians…and Jews…and Muslims…to “Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

          Yet the people of Missouri are suffering because this legislature chose not to expand Medicaid.  Chose not to rein in predatory lenders. Chose to pass anti-union bills like so-called Right to Work.

          The people of Missouri are suffering because the majority in this legislature, this “Christian legislature” does not judge righteously.  They do not “defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

          What do you call people who know the commands of God and choose not to follow them, choose instead to run in the opposite direction, all the way to the bank?  You call them false Christians.  Hypocrites.

          On this day in Jefferson City, Missouri, I declare this:  False Christians, you are on notice.

          I am tired of having you speak for me! We are tired of having you speak for us!  We are most especially tired of having you speak for Jesus.  If he saw the legislation you pass, he would throw a table.  He might throw ten or twelve!

          "Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law."  That’s what it says on the wall in the Missouri statehouse.  But we are here this morning because we know, don’t we, that that is not what is happening inside the Missouri statehouse.  And we are here today to say enough!

          Enough false doctrine!

          Enough privileging of wealthy special interests above your people, the people of Missouri.

          Enough predatory lending, enough poor healthcare, enough housing discrimination, enough union-busting.

          The welfare of the people will be the supreme law.  You are on notice.