Justice As A Shared Value... The only true worship

As a student of the Judeo-Christian tradition, it is my conclusion that every 8th century prophet would have had to endure the satanization of the so-called "religious right" of our time in their stand against the economic and cultural status quo. As we work toward a more just society we must stand up to the the pseudo-intellectualism of the moral halfwits among us. We cannot sit idly by while the apostles of what the current Pope calls “the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system” hold court. Furthermore, we should not allow the voices of the prophets to be drowned out by their heresy. How would the religious conservatives of our time respond to Amos when he declared on behalf of God:

“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,  I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,  I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs;    to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters,  and righteousness like an everflowing stream.”- Amos 5 vs 21-24

The fact  is, Amos makes the Rev. Jeremiah Wright sound tame! Imagine what our popular media would have done to him.The resetting of our priorities to which we are directed by this rebuke has its very essence in the reality that to “do justly and to love mercy” is in fact the ONLY meaningful religion... The only true worship. The virtuousness of this statement is however not reserved for the religious. Prosperity for all does not happen in a social vacuum. The law of the jungle might have a certain appeal in the greed induced coma that typifies the behavior of those who have blocked the need to be “righteous”, but it only sets them up for destruction by the hosts of the aggrieved. The “jungle” is by no means a desirable social ideal. Ultimately our hopes for progress must be rooted in a fundamental understanding of the kind of community where justice is a shared value... A society in which I-Thou takes the place of I-It in our socio-economic interactions.