Choosing Justice Over Abandonment Amidst Abundance

ABSTRACT This plenary presentation from the Society of Pastoral Theology Annual Meeting in June 2021 addresses the intersection of systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy, and the false narrative of Christian Nationalism and puts forward a vision of justice that comes from listening to the needs and priorities of the 140 million poor and low-income Americans. Drawing lessons from the 1968 Poor People's Campaign, this paper suggests that poverty is not inevitable, not willed by God, nor an unfortunate accident, but the result of policy choices by political, religious, academic and health institutions. It argues that people of faith, pastoral theologians, practitioners have a role to play in building a moral movement to fully address inequality. Special attention is paid to the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and grassroots organizing in communities across the United States in the first quarter of the twenty-first century.