The Parable of the Unmerciful Banker

If I kill a dog, I will get in trouble. If I kill you, I won’t get in any trouble. No one knows you are here. You don’t exist.

- Threats made by a human trafficker to Flor, a 37-year-old survivor of modern American slavery, who came to the U.S. to earn money after losing a child to starvation in Mexico. She was forced to work 17 to 19 hours a day for no pay in a sewing sweatshop. “People feel if you come in illegally, anything that happens to you is your fault,” said Lisette Arsuaga, with the Los Angeles-based Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking. “Slavery is not an immigration issue. It’s a civil rights issue. There’s no justification for making someone a slave.” (Source: Kansas City Star)

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The Parable of the Unmerciful Banker

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This week, I joined a press conference with People Improving Communities through Organizing and the Center for Responsible Lending on the steps of the United States Treasury. The first three speakers were not the usual Washington talking heads. Instead, they were American homeowners who were losing their homes to foreclosure—a terrible thing that now happens to another American family every 13 seconds (6,600 per day). And a rapidly increasing number of them are now due not to subprime mortgages, but to the loss of employment. That’s what had happened to those who told their stories on Monday in Washington D.C. across from the White House and just down the street from the huge Bank of America and PNC Bank buildings.

Mercy Martinez began to cry as she spoke. She had saved for years and put $100,000 down to buy her first condo. Choking back tears, she recalled her meeting with the Countrywide Financial mortgage broker. “I had enough money for a traditional, 30-year fixed rate loan; but the loan servicer unethically tricked me into an adjustable rate loan that could put me in foreclosure at any moment.” Now she waits for the “time bomb” of her loan to explode, and when it does she will join the millions of Americans facing foreclosure. Mercy is not alone: in 2006, 61 percent of subprime borrowers were forced into mortgages more expensive and riskier than what they qualified for.

Meanwhile, inside the White House, the heads of the nation’s biggest banks and financial institutions were meeting with the president. They were told that since the American people had bailed them out, they now needed to do something for the American people by beginning to lend again and to agree to loan modification plans enabling homeowners not to lose everything. But so far, those admonitions are falling on deaf ears. Indeed, I learned this week that the bonuses and extra compensation paid to the executives at the big banks are on track to exceed the 2007 level of $162 billion (even after some banks, like Goldman Sachs, have switched compensation packages away from cash and into stock bonuses). At the same time, the Center for Responsible Lending estimates that the bonus pool of just one of these big banks would have been enough money to prevent or significantly delay foreclosure for all 2.3 million people who lost their homes last year. And what about loan modifications to help homeowners stay in their homes? To date, Bank of America has agreed to fewer than 100 permanent home loan modifications. Amazing.

At the press conference, I pointed out the fundamental moral contradiction of this situation: Those whose behavior is most responsible for causing this economic crisis are being saved from failure and suffering by the American taxpayers, while those least responsible for causing this recession are now losing both jobs and homes — with no bailouts for them on the horizon. My friend Rev. Derrick Harkins made a point about “grace.” He suggested that in order to try to save the economy from a feared massive meltdown, some real grace was extended to the big banks; but they now seem unwilling to extend grace to anyone else. Does this sound like a gospel parable to you?

What it sounds like to me is a very bad morality play — one that I write about much more extensively in my new book Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street—A Moral Compass for the New Economy. The book says we need a new national conversation about all this, a return to some basic values, and a moral recovery to accompany an economic recovery. We cannot go back to normal this time; we need a new normal. It’s time to change the script of this play. That is the only way all this suffering and pain can be redeemed.

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Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock takes filmmaking and turns it into social contradictory — most notably with the film, Super Size Me. Spurlock spoke with Sojourners editors Jim Wallis and Jeannie Choi about his newest project, The Simpsons 20^th Anniversary Special in 3-D on Ice, and explains that though his projects be madness, there is method to them.

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Jim Wallis initiated a blog dialogue this week on President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. Here's Jim's post, and some of the commentary on the speech so far:

Obama’s Nobel Speech: Reflection and Response
by Jim Wallis
It was a more philosophical, and even theological, lecture than presidents normally give — and therefore worthy of some reflection and response.
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Violence and Nonviolence: Who’s Naïve? Who’s Realistic?
by Brian McLaren
Who is more naïve, I wondered -- those who believe violence can overcome violence, or those who believe violence always creates new and more complicated problems?
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What If?
by Jarrod McKenna
What if? What if Obama’s speech had not simply referenced Gandhi and King but followed them in following the way of Jesus?
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Nonviolence is the Strongest Weapon
by Johann Christoph Arnold
I was saddened by our president’s acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize. He missed a chance to witness to courage and leadership.
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Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize Speech and Just Peace Theory
by Valerie Elverton Dixon
If all we notice in President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize Lecture is a justification of war, we will miss the 21^st century import of his thinking and the hope of peace he called forth.
+Click to continue

+ See what's new on the blog of Jim Wallis and friends

'Stand up for Christmas'?!
by Eugene Cho
I'm sharing this not because I'm trying to throw Focus on the Family under the train. Believe it or not, I have a lot of respect for the big picture vision of their ministry. But when they miss the boat on occasions, they really miss the boat and I think this might be an occasion they missed the boat.
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Why Climate Change Matters to the Lives of the Poor
by Tim Costello
World Vision is at the Copenhagen climate change talks because this is no longer an environmental crisis alone, but a deepening humanitarian crisis. Climate change is already affecting lives and livelihoods in the countries where we work, as described in graphic ways by so many in our national offices.
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Climate Justice Clips: Archbishop Rowan Williams on 'Fashioning a Christian Response' to the Climate Crisis
by Jarrod McKenna
Many would have read reports of Rowan Williams's wonderful sermon in Copenhagen. Below are some of my favorite quotes. What some may have missed is this fantastic talk he gave. Pencil in sometime, make a cup of tea, and prayer-sit back as Rowan Williams outlines "The Climate Crisis: Fashioning a Christian Response."
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Irrational Exuberance? You Got That Right!
by Chuck Gutenson
Of all the Delphic utterances of Alan Greenspan over the course of his time as Fed Chief, his observation that various market investment mechanisms might possibly be overvalued, and thus suggesting that folks might be motivated by an "irrational exuberance," was my favorite.
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Cap-and-Trade's Bubble Trouble
by Elizabeth Palmberg
There's a lot of debate, in Copenhagen and elsewhere, about whether cap-and-trade is a good way to fend off the impending global-warming catastrophe. What most of that debate ignores is that, unless we set some rules for Wall Street, cap-and-trade is a recipe not for avoiding disaster, but for bringing it on -- twice over. It comes down to one word which is a lot scarier than it sounds: bubbles.
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Cheerful Books for the Bleak Midwinter
by LaVonne Neff
Mennonite is one of the few Christian religions I've never practiced (though it looks attractive, especially when POTUS starts talking about just war theory), but I still found this memoir hilarious.
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High Drama and Delicate Negotiations in Copenhagen
by Tim Costello
Yesterday was a day of high drama where Africa walked out, suspended talks, and then later in the day returned after the Danish facilitators took on some of their concerns. A large crowd of civil society supporters cheered their confrontation with the West, and made it clear they stood in solidarity with Africa.
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Contemplating Feminine Incarnation
by Julie Clawson
Even as I reflected on the particular struggles Jesus would have faced if he had been born a girl, I couldn't help but also think about the positive outcomes it would have engendered. If the person we commit our lives to follow and who sacrificed herself on our behalf was a woman, I can't help but think that would have significantly impacted how we have perceived and treated women for the last 2,000 years.
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Disney’s A Christmas Carol: A Missed Opportunity
by Jonathan Wright-Gray
This intends to be a more or less faithful retelling of a 19^th century adult morality tale, with all the harsh realities of the original. Somewhere along the way, however, the desire to entertain overshadows the moral values and insight into human nature inherent in Dicken's story.
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Faith, Hope, and the Advent of Health-care Reform
by Valerie Elverton Dixon
As the debate on health-care reform continues in the U.S. Senate, it seems that legislation to bring this nation closer to universal health care is bogged down in a political and procedural morass.
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Climate Justice Clips: More of Tutu's Message to Copenhagen, 'Join the Winning Side'
by Jarrod McKenna
Let's not forget that we serve a God who turns our mourning in dancing. As Tutu puts it, if we "are on the side of peace, if we are on the side of climate justice, then we are on the side of the God of the universe!"
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Drowning in a Rising Tide
by Neeraj Mehta
There is a great opportunity for us today as a country to heal not only the wounds of this most recent economic crisis, but also to heal the wounds of decades of racial disparities and injustice. If we look at some of the most popular universal programs coming out of the New Deal and World War II, it is plain to see that these programs by and large benefited whites disproportionately.
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Video from Copenhagen: Worshipping and Marching with Desmond Tutu
by Tim Costello
A report from the cathedral where Desmond Tutu spoke, and a section from Tutu's speech to the crowd that marched through Copenhagen.
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A Day to Pray in Copenhagen
by Tim Costello
Creation care and stewardship have never been more important to recover as fundamental Christian responsibilities. Maybe this is why Copenhagen's traditionally deserted churches, this Sunday, were packed.
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Paul Tells It Like It Is: 'Wake Up Gentlemen'
by Ernesto Tinajero
"Wake up, gentlemen." The tall prophet called out to the shocked onlookers. Rather than wearing the tunic and carrying a rod, like the biblical prophets of old, this prophet wore a business suit and carried the wisdom of years as a top economist. Paul Volcker, or "Tall Paul" as he is known, towered over many of the top bankers of the world this week.
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Where are the Other Christian Voices Against Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill?
by Aaron Taylor
As a career missionary to Africa, I fear what would happen to me on judgment day if I didn't speak out against what is happening in Uganda right now in the name of Christ. I was in the middle of typing my monthly newsletter when I decided to check my e-mail. The subject line read, "Pastor Rick Warren condemns Uganda anti-homosexuality bill." Hurray for Rick Warren, but my question is where's everyone else?
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U.S. Military Aid and the Paramilitaries Behind the Philippine Election Massacre
by Katrina Abarcar
The Maguindanao Massacre shows that human rights violations continue to rage throughout the Philippines, under the direction of the Arroyo administration. With election season in the Philippines upon us now, U.S. tax dollars to the Philippines in the form of military aid might be lighting the fuse on a pile of dynamite.
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Copenhagen: Three Global Factions and a Volatile Mix of Hope and Despair
by Tim Costello
In search of a global ethic and political will, in freezing weather and the most dispiriting cavernous building under cold grey Copenhagen skies, this search by 34,000 people with 3500 press observing, is a most extraordinary moment in time for humanity. There is a mix of aspiration – hoping against hope – and a fair dose of despair. It makes for a volatile psychological mix.
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Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill: A Betrayal of Christ's Teachings
by Jim Wallis
Reports from Uganda indicate that the harassment of homosexuals has already ramped up, and those who have not been targeted fear persecution. Whatever one's views on homosexuality, I would hope we can at least agree that legal, civil, and human rights must be honored, respected, and defended for all people. It's a question of justice.
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Halliburton and the 'Resource Curse'
by Elizabeth Palmberg
Nigeria is sometimes cited as an example of the "resource curse," where a country's natural resources -- oil, in the case of Nigeria -- bring in a lot of money, but that money doesn't go to sustainable development or to reducing poverty. But of course, that "curse" isn't cast by magicians someplace, but by human interactions, including huge, huge amounts of money from wealthy corporations.
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Faith Leaders Defend Families Facing Foreclosure
The Christian Post
“Teachers, social workers, small business owners and our men and women in the armed services all know what it means to sacrifice for the good of our country in tough times, and they do so with pride,” said Jim Wallis, CEO of social justice ministry Sojourners and author of the forthcoming book, Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street and Your Street – A Moral Compass for a New Economy. “I refuse to believe that Wall Street is the one place in the country that is exempt.” The event denouncing Wall Street bonuses while calling for greater protection for homeowners was organized by PICO National Network, Faith in Public Life, Sojourners and the Center for Responsible Lending. +Click to continue


Gerald Britt Jr.: After the Justice Revival
The Dallas Morning News

Getting church leaders across denominational, theological, racial, geographic, class and ideological barriers to work together can be like getting cats to march in a parade. But that is the challenge in the aftermath of Dallas' Justice Revival. The Justice Revival is a concept introduced in the book The Great Awakening by Jim Wallis, the leader of the progressive Christian organization Sojourners. It harkens back to church revivals that resulted in spiritual conversions and social justice movements that helped bring about the abolition of slavery; produced child labor laws; and addressed issues of public health and poverty in northern slums area. Can churches still provide the spark that ignites a spiritual-based revival with social implications in Dallas?

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