"GOD, GUNS, AND GUTS: THAT S WHAT S MADE

AMERICA GREAT!" So read a giant billboard seen throughout the

midwest in 1975. This oversimplified convergence of God and coun-

try, which views the prosperity of America as evidence of God s

blessing and sees America s military might as the protector of Chris-

tian values and civilization, is being challenged by people through-

out our country and throughout the world.

There was a time when love of God meant for me an uncritical

acceptance of our country s policies. The pathway leading to a dif-

ferent understanding began when I stepped into new experiences

that led to new questions. The poverty and inequality characteristic

of Chicago and other American cities, and of countries such as India,

Ethiopia, and Sri Lanka, radically called into question my traditional

worldview. At first, I was angry that my attitudes about God and

country were being challenged. At one point as I walked through the

streets of Calcutta, the poverty so enraged me that I wanted to

scream at God. How could God tolerate such suffering? Then I came

to a painful realization: in the suffering of the poor God was scream-

ing at me, in fact at all of us and at our institutions and social

systems that cause and perpetuate hunger, poverty, and inequality.