Occupy Wall Street has quickly grown from a single protest at Zuccotti Park in New York to over 900 cities around the world. There are several reasons why the Occupy Movement has experienced such exponential growth in only three months, but the primary one is that they boldly seized a cause that was crying out for a champion. There was, and still is, a groundswell of people who desperately want to restore balance to a fundamentally unjust economic system.

While more Americans than ever slipped below the poverty line in 2011 (46.2 million), the wealthiest 1% now controls 40% of the nation’s wealth. That kind of disparity is wrong by any standards, and is an injustice that falls squarely within the church’s domain. Some pastors have been fighting the good fight for years; however, many are strangely silent when it comes to getting actively involved in shaping policies that help the sick, hungry, and poor (aka “the least of these.”) Not wanting to create a riff in their congregations or upset contributors, they tend to shy away from the “controversial” issues. (more…)