The Cost of Silence; Where is Our Faith?

There are times when one must address the difficult questions. Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. stated: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." During the past year I have encountered hundreds of individuals who daily speak about their faith. The apostle Paul describes faith in Hebrew 11-1 as: “FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR, AND THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN." The question becomes ‘what are things that we hoped for’ and what are the things not seen.’
In his book, Jesus and the Disinherited, Howard Thurman characterized the love-ethic of Jesus as the foundation of faith. In recent weeks we have witness the proclamation of Pat Robertson regarding the people of Haiti selling their souls to Satan in order to gain their independence from the French. And more recently the Lt. Governor Andre Bauer of South Carolina compared giving people government assistance to “feeding stray animals.” Bauer elaborated further stating; “my grandmother was not a high educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quite feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed.” The question begs itself, where was the outcry from out religious and political leaders? The absence of any outcry by our religious or political leaders, regarding the viciousness of these men and their words is interesting when compared to the massive outcry throughout America when Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who quoted a former American Diplomat, when stated: “ God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human.” These are the activities of men and these activities are supported by the silence of religious and political leaders that make it difficult for out casted groups to live without shame and humiliation.
It is clear to me that King is correct, our silence will end our lives. Faith is more than “the substance of things hoped for.” It is the utilization of your education, formal or informal, to teach all who will listen that the Robertson’s and Bauer’s are driven by some strange urge to use cunning to get what they cannot secure by integrity. Faith is more than “the evidence of things not seen.” Faith in the words of Howard Thurman: “to love them means to recognize some deep respect and reverence for their person. But to love them does not mean to condone their way of life.”