Urban reality contains mass human suffering in the form of a large homeless population.

Society’s acceptance of this suffering presents an ostensible conflict when acknowledging the presence of Christian values in our culture.

Maintaining society’s moral integrity encourages it to interpret homelessness as a manifestation of a large-scale absence of personal responsibility, exculpating greater society from possible blame.

Although referencing the idea of personal responsibility provides comfort in the presence of a perpetually impoverished group of people, it does not in fact explain the existence of America’s homeless population. Instead, placing economic responsibility solely on individuals artificially severs us from our historical and socio-economic context, accepting a profoundly reactionary socially constructed economy as a natural given of life.

(more…)

Urban reality contains mass human suffering in the form of a large homeless population.

Society’s acceptance of this suffering presents an ostensible conflict when acknowledging the presence of Christian values in our culture.

Maintaining society’s moral integrity encourages it to interpret homelessness as a manifestation of a large-scale absence of personal responsibility, exculpating greater society from possible blame.

Although referencing the idea of personal responsibility provides comfort in the presence of a perpetually impoverished group of people, it does not in fact explain the existence of America’s homeless population. Instead, placing economic responsibility solely on individuals artificially severs us from our historical and socio-economic context, accepting a profoundly reactionary socially constructed economy as a natural given of life.

(more…)