I’ve wanted to do a series of post like this for a while and I think now is the time to tackle it. The goal is to write a series of posts (every Friday) on social issues I believe Christians should be aware of. The posts will be brief, summarize the issue, present the facts, and then attempt to make a connection as to why Christians should be concerned about the topic.
I haven’t settled on the 50, but here is my current list from a brainstorm:
AIDS globally
AIDS in USA
conflict diamonds
consumerism
death row exoneration
divorce
domestic abuse
eating disorders
female genital mutilation
gentrification
history of the Native People (in the USA)
homelessness
immigrants
international debt
lack of clean drinking water
Lack of tithing in the USA
land mines
leprosy
malaria
marketing to children
military industrial complex/revolving door
multinational corporations (walmart, coke, nike, etc)
police brutality
pornography
self mutilation
sex exploitation in SE Asia
Sex trafficking
slavery
STDs
suicide
the cancer belt
unequal public education
voter discrimination
wage gap
sweatshops
orphans worldwide
If you have another topic to add please do so here or leave it in the comments. I’m also interested in your opinions of the above topics, are they important, overwhelming, outdated, unnecessary?
You forgot the war. How could you forget WAR for crying out loud?
Truly there is only one issue that concerns me: justice. If you work for justice, then all other things fall into place.
history of the Native People (in the USA): very interested
homelessness: very very interested
the others: interested
how about energy consumption?
btw, applause for including immigrants. 🙂
Um, abortion? Surely a top 50 needs to include that.
Lack of adoption among Christians.
Perhaps this is covered under pornography, but also the sexualization and coarsening of our culture (advertising, TV, newsstands, internet – all available to young eyes).
“Class warfare”, rich vs. poor demagoguery in political discourse.
Creeping dependency on government? Not strictly on government aid for children who are hungry or sick (“the least of these”), but reliance on government for everything from food stamps to Section VIII housing to student loans to rebates on hybrid vehicles – do we really need government to do everything for us?
male genital mutilation (In the spirit of getting the log out of our own eye)
as for AIDS globally, I agree. So many ppl with the disease in Africa, for example, have contracted it as true victims through rape or from their mothers through childbirth. fighting for them is an act of protecting the innocent, which we are called to do.
however, AIDS in America is largely a disease contracted through intentional, voluntary, careless, informed (and from most Christian’s perspectives immoral) behaviour. There are many diseases that afflict Americans in much greater numbers than AIDS that are not necessarily contracted through voluntary behaviour. so, given all that, why does AIDS in America make the list of things we should be know about or be concerned about? Why should AIDS in America make the list while, say, lung disease contracted through smoking or obesity and resulting loss of quality of life, diabetes, heart disease, etc. which affect many, many more people (all partly caused behavior) do not?
Probably because “Christians” aren’t going to spew venom towards the sinful gluttonous lazy lifestyle of the person with heart disease. The sins that cause those diseases that you mentioned are winked at and freely participated in by Christians while they look down their noses at people whose sexual behavior has had negative results.
Ariah can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the point is to talk about things that Christians have generally turned a blind eye to. Abortion is certainly not one of them.
Indie –
I guess we’ll let Ariah say what his motivation is for including some things and not others.
If he only means things that Christians have turned a blind eye toward, I assume he would not have included pornography. Like pornography, abortion has certainly been on the radar of pop Christianity, but porn and not abortion made the list and not the other.
If however he does mean to list things that Christians have turned a blind eye toward, then should not “sins that cause those diseases that you mentioned are winked at and freely participated in by Christians” be things that we should wake up to? Of course, I don’t know what kind of action Ariah contemplates by putting “AIDS in USA” on the list. I doubt he means that venom should be spewed at anyone, whatever that means. He could mean that we should encourage moral lifestyles that do not result in infection with AIDS. If so, why not encourage healthy lifestyles that will not result in other diseases? I only wondered why “AIDS in USA”, which affects so few people compared to other diseases, related or unrelated to lifestyle, was noted here and not those other diseases.
Long time, no comment…I know. This list captivated me though. While I agree with 98% of your list I find it interesting that you didn’t include homosexuality as well as “church as a brand”, so to speak.
Homosexuality (what a ridiculous word in its own right) has been approached by almost every denomination and political cause that it seems to be one of those topics that will always spark debate but never raise awareness. Granted it is often viewed by Christians as a sinful perversion and by science as a bit of an anomaly, it still warrants discussion on so many levels.
Church as a brand is something that bothers me daily. How many coffee cups and pens must I get in the name of “outreach” before I finally decide which church is right for me? Whose logo will make me want to be part of a community? When does church reject the idea of consumerist branding and revisit word of mouth and the moving spirit of God?
Interesting list. Now I have alot of research to do.
Wow, glad everyone felt like they could chime in, I appreciate the thoughts and the new ideas added to the list.
Indie and Aaron, I really appreciate your conversation too, regardless of what I intended, I think both of you helped me think about clarifying what I hope to write about.
But, to your disappointment, I don’t think I’m going to try and clarify my intent at the moment, maybe I’m still figuring it out.
Stay tuned for future post.
I would add Fair Trade to that list.