Certain people think that spiritual leaders who express themselves on political matters should only focus on worship in their churches and leave social and political issues to politicians. As members of the church, we should be content with prayer and praising God, and if we have any opinions on political or economic issues, it has nothing to do with Christianity.
The problem with this view is that the only God to whom we pray and whom we worship cares about these economic matters: He says that He is the God of the poor. He says that He is the God of the righteous, and that means that He sides with the powerless and oppressed, the widow and the orphan, and stands against their oppressors. The God who meets us in the Bible – and especially in Jesus Christ – tells us that we cannot be with Him, we cannot sincerely worship Him or speak truthfully about Him if we are not in solidarity with the poor.
(Herbert McCabe OP /1926–2001/, Dieu, Christ et nous)
