I am not saying there are not some good Christians in the city. I was speaking with some of them today (Sunday January 22,2006). They were not in a church with a group of their fellows proclaiming themselves christians and asserting their love of God. Rather, they were outside taking food to the hungry. This congregation rents space for their services, hoping one day to be able to afford their own place of worship. This day is further away than it could be because they have chosen to use resources to help feed the homeless and the hungry. Over the past year and more I have come into contact with many diverse Christians. Some I admit I have deep philosophical differences with, some I differ on basic beliefs with and some I share spiritual ground with. BUT the one thing all these diverse Christians have in common that I cannot argue with is that they live their faith. Not with loud words proclaiming their Christianity (OK some get a little loud and rambunctious) but through their actions. Christ chased the money-lenders from the temple and chastised those who only proclaimed their faith in church but failed to live their faith out in the world. I wonder what he would think of the majority of those who would claim to be christian but choose not to live their faith in their daily lives?

As stated, I am not saying there are not some good Christians in this city, just that the poor christians would appear to have them vastly outnumbered. What do I base this on? Observation and the fact that to me actions are far more revealing of what people are truly like than all their pious words.

We have in fact, two kinds of morality, side by side: one that we preach, but do not practice, and another that we practice, but seldom preach.

Bertrand Russell

We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.

Abigail Adams

We citizens are the city and we must accept responsibility for the actions that the city undertakes. When the City begins to act in a manner that inflicts harm upon the less fortunate members of our society, it is up to us to require the City to act in a manner reflecting the citizens beliefs about acceptable behaviour. It is not acceptable to sit back and do nothing.

A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.

John Stuart Mill

It is not enough to merely claim to be a just and compassionate society. We must match our actions to our words, or we will have become part of the problem. In turning our backs on those in need we let the darkness into our souls and our hearts. There is no need for the devil to act, throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph

The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.

Albert Einstein

Note: see associated article on street view – a interesting question