Faith: Why The Faith Community Must Get Involved

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Many are asking why the faith community should get involved in the fight to improve Wal-Mart’s business model.  Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men (and women) willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation." Progress will only come when people of good will stand and speak for those who suffer unduly from economic subterfuge, deficient health care plans, and inconsolable environmental practices.

All religions believe in justice, and justice is only relevant when all individual are seen with significance and not as chattels of the new corporate plantation. If we are the voice for the oppressed, the working poor, and the down trodden then our voices must be heard as the clarion sound of justice.  Many of us have cried out for those who have been victims of political devastation, civil unrest, and discrimination; this too is the time to cry out for those who suffer economic isolation.

Some in the faith community ask why Wal-Mart?  Fewer than half of all Wal-Mart employees are insured under the Wal-Mart’s arrangement.  This compares to two-thirds of workers at large U.S. firms who get health insurance from their employer. Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (both in Los Angles) stated, "With 1.2 million U.S. workers, Wal-Mart is reshaping the American workplace. Its Super centers are being built where productive factories once stood, and middle-class workers are now competing for jobs as all-night cashiers, making a fraction of their former wages. The Wal-Mart model of low costs, underwritten by low wages, has cast a shadow on Dr. King’s dreams of an American economy that provides stability and prosperity for all workers. Just as the Memphis sanitation workers were asked to work without dignity, so too are Wal-Mart’s."

For all its resources, Wal-Mart shares little with its employees. The average worker made $17,600 in 2004, nearly $1,600 below the federal poverty line for a family of four.

Lawson further states, "Wal-Mart imported $15 billion worth of Chinese products last year, a result of pressuring its suppliers for costs so low they can only be achieved in an environment where human rights are violated at will. Its insatiable demand for cheap labor has crushed local competitors and driven thousands of American jobs overseas, leaving nothing but, you guessed it, Wal-Mart jobs, in their wake."

Wal-Mart made over $10 billion in net income in 2004.  The Walton family, worth $90 billion, is the richest family in America.  Wal-Mart can afford to pay a living wage and offer decent health benefits.  But they will only do so if we stand together to make them accountable.

During "Higher Expectations Week" beginning November 13th, the prophetic reading of Isaiah 40:27-41:16 is preached.  According to the text Isaiah says that "God gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless.  Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings like eagles...." God gives strength by using his change agents, us, the people of faith.  God has always used his change agents to free his people from slave wages as with Moses and lead them to the land of benefits and genuine wellbeing as with Joshua.

The question then, is when will the people of faith take up their responsibility and cry for those whose voice has been silenced. When will we facilitate the shake off of the shackles of coercion because people have been brainwashed into believing a slave wage job is a good job?  When do we stand up for the mother who has to make a choice between providing a meal for her family or a doctor’s visit for her sick child?  When do we blow the trumpet of discontent for the discriminated women and men whose dignity has been trampled on by the money makes right attitude?  When do we rally for the small business owners whose livelihood had been swallowed up by the goliath of retail?  When do we cry out because of the reprehensible treatment of our environment by the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of big business?  When do we scream for justice for the children who work in sweat shop to provide items at a low price?  The sacred text of the Christian faith says, "To whom much is given, much is required." Someone must become a voice of justice

For this reason, we of the faith community must decide to stand for those who have been victimized by corporate greed and institutionalized class-ism.  We must take up the mantle of the prophets of old who stood for fairness, stood for those who were demoralized, discouraged, and disheartened. We must stand like Amos who cried, "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." We must stand like Jesus who said, "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me.." We must declare like Muhammad, "When you hire, compensate the worker and treat them fairly." We must declare with the Swiss writer Henri F. Amiel who said, "Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires but according to our powers." We must stand like Theodore Roosevelt who declared, "This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in."

We must stand together with one voice until the common denominator is livable wages, adequate health care, equal treatment regardless of ones race, gender, or creed.  For if we fail to stand, how can we ask others to stand for morality, decency and fairness?  We must as King said, "Carve a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment." We must join the struggle with the community - for the community.