THE GREATEST SIN OF ALL There seems to be an unwritten rule of thumb when it comes to political and/or religious issues that must be addressed but which those involved wish to avoid. The rule of thumb is this: pick another issue and beat it and beat it to death. In the process the real issue will be lost in the shuffle or certainly will be sufficiently ignored all because the attention is now focused on some issue that, while important, pales in significance and importance. There is much debate in our country and in our church about some highly important political/ religious/moral issues. There is the debate about the war in Iraq or the war on terrorism. There is the debate about abortion. There is the debate about homosexuality / marriage. There are those who will divide the church, divide the country, divide the world over any one of these issues, issues that are not only political but moral as well. Each issue is called sinful by some and is justified by others. Thus, the heated debates, debates often fueled by anger, recriminations and threats. In the process the rule of thumb comes to the fore. For while we are debating the rightness or wrongness of the war(s), the morality of abortion or of homosexuality, the greatest sin of all is being given short shrift and only lip service by those waging the war against the war, or against what they deem as sexual immorality. That is not to say these are not important moral issues. It is to say that there is a greater sin that is being conveniently overlooked precisely because it is so widespread and so difficult to resolve. The greatest sin of all is poverty. Poverty is a sin. It is not a problem to be solved. It is a sin that must not be tolerated. It is a moral outrage. Poverty affects more people than all the wars combined. In fact, I dare say that poverty is the root cause of all wars – poverty in reverse, that is. Wars are waged because of greed: we want what someone else possesses and we go to war to get it. Sexual issues, sexual sins of whatever kind, pale in significance, almost pale into insignificance when it comes to the sin of poverty. That is not to disregard the moral issues involved in war and sexuality. It is simply to say that they are secondary when compared to the immorality of poverty. We just don’t get it not because we cannot but because we do not want to. It is easier to fight other moral issues than to fight poverty. We have, in our own church, bishops and clergy flying all over the world fighting sexual issues when thousands of people in their own dioceses live in poverty here and abroad – in every diocese in every country. There are no exceptions. We are like the rich man who feasted sumptuously while Lazarus begged from the crumbs that fell from his table. The rich man was condemned not because he did not see Lazarus’ poverty. He was condemned because he simply did not see Lazarus. He closed his eyes to the truth that was right in front of him. As a church, as a nation, as a world, we are doing the same. It is so sad. For whatever reason we are fighting sins scripture gives little or no regard to while we overlook the greatest sin of all, the sin the prophets railed against and the sin Jesus said in Matthew 25 would be the basis of how we would be judged. And what is even sadder is that as long as we as a church, as a nation and as a world do not understand that poverty is the greatest sin of all, as long as we fight losing battles over issues that will not be resolved in our lifetime and cannot be resolved by any legislation, the poor will continue to suffer and we will continue to be judged guilty. WJP