faith in action

One evening several weeks ago I joined the Wisconsin faith community for a candlelight vigil at the Capitol in Madison. Our various faith backgrounds compelled us to protest the social injustice we see in the budget that just passed in our state. Balls of yarn passed from hand to hand made a colorful, tangled web-a visual aid to show how our lives are linked together.

“A budget that is balanced on the back of workers and the poor is not just, it is not moral, and it is certainly no solution,” Linda Ketcham, executive director of Madison-area Urban Ministry said. (You can download a pdf of an alternative to Governor Walker’s budget, the Wisconsin Values Budget at http://www.wisconsinisus.org/?p=185 It is a balanced approach to our state’s  fiscal challenges that shows Scott Walker’s choices were not necessary.)

Now it’s too late to spare the people who will suffer under the cuts in the Walker budget, which will spread poverty through its provisions.

Many who do not view life through the lens of faith agree that this budget is immoral. Others, my fellow Christians, applaud the budget and condemn Christians who protest. Sadly, our governor has contributed to divisions in the faith community, just as he has polarized our state around other issues.

My prayer is that the people of Wisconsin will unite, especially the faith community.