Should Christians Care About Growing Income Inequality in the United States? There is a story in the Bible about a rich young man who asks Jesus what it takes to have eternal life. Jesus begins by telling the rich young man to obey all the commandments. The rich young man claims he already did it and asks what else he should do. Jesus responds to the rich young man by saying: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give them to the poor. So come follow me. (Matthew 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-31 and Luke 18:18-30) This encounter is the only recorded account in which Jesus is asked, specifically and directly, what it takes to have eternal life . Jesus teaches that when his disciples ignore the poor and marginalized, they are ignoring Jesus himself. Indeed, he also teaches in the same passage (Matthew 25:31-46) that when his disciples care for the poor and marginalized, they are caring for Jesus himself. Those who claim to follow and take seriously the teachings of Christ must therefore necessarily care about the poor and the marginalized. Thus, growing income inequality in the United States today is not simply an economic issue to be kept away from the Church, but a moral issue on which the Church must necessarily find a way to address. insert into the debate. According to Emmanuel Saez, an economics professor at UC Berkeley, income inequality has been rising since the 1970s and is now at its highest level since 1928; "...while the incomes of the poorest 99 percent grew at a solid rate of 2.7 percent per year between 1993 and 2000, these incomes increased only 1.3 percent per year. year between 2002 and 2007. As a result, during the economic expansion from 2002 to 2007, In 2007, the top 1 percent captured two-thirds of the income growth » As the income gap began. digging themselves, the stars...were among papers...and had nothing to eat” (Mark 8:2). who are in need is like a genetic trait passed down to Jesus' disciples Although the book of James is perhaps most direct in expressing the Church's need to honor the poor and admonish the rich. , concern for those in need permeates the New Testament. In Jesus we see that God has a 'preferential option for the poor' As Gustavo Gutiérrez points out, Jesus in Matthew 25 proclaims a shocking identity 'between one'. an act of love in favor of the poor and an act accomplished in favor of the Son of Man… to give one's life for justice is to give it for Christ himself. .” As such, the gospel of the kingdom that Jesus proclaimed called upon us to work on behalf of the poor and marginalized in our region, opposing ways of life that did not benefit them...