Mark 10:17-25

 ¹⁸And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. ¹⁹"You know the commandments, 'DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.' ²⁰And he said to Him, "Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up." ²¹Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." ²²But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.

²³And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁴The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

 I lured my husband into watching Michael Moore's new film with me this evening. A die-hard capitalist, and also to the left of moderate, my husband came out of the theatre moved, but not won over. "Capitalism is a tool", he said. "It's not evil. People are evil." It sort of reminded me of the saying, "Guns don't kill people. People kill people."

 Michael Moore's new documentary is convincing. I believe that he makes many good points. I especially enjoyed the way in which he brought religion into the discussion. I think it belongs there. Indeed, WWJD?

I came away from the film struck by how unevolved we are, as a nation, compared to the rest of the developed world. I do not believe that the answer is a completely socialistic society. But if what Canada, Europe and Japan have is socialism, I say, Bring it.

How does a revolution begin and where does it start? We are a society that values morality. (Notice, I did not say 'religion', I said 'morality'.)  In order for true change to take place, these changes have to be seen as moral. The right has done a very good job of convincing the American people that their brand of government is moral. In an effort to shy away from religion, I believe the left has also shied away from the word morality. In our effort to avoid discussing religion, we've avoided asking the conservative right the tough questions, such as "Please justify to me how [X] is moral??" How is Gitmo moral? How is waterboarding moral? How is denying children health care moral? How is the war in Afganistan moral? How is allowing the top 1% to lord over the lower class moral? How is denying children equal and adequate education moral? Taking on the issue of morality is the key to properly motivating the American people. We don't have to stretch very far to make our argument.