"Yes, our lives, our societies, our policies, our politics are all in need of redemption and transformation. It’s not merely a sin-sick soul that is in need of profound redemption, it is also our society and structural institutions that call out for being redeemed and transformed.
This is the lesson we know from Dr. King, who in offering the eulogy for the four innocent girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church, stated:
'They [the martyred children] say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers.'
Yes, we have to address the system that produces violence. But as people of faith, people who seek the Spirit, people who recognize that the love of God unleashes upon this world — starting with the broken and cracked places — let us also speak from that voice here and now.”
—Omid Safi, from his weekly column (http://www.onbeing.org/blog/a-sin-sick-soul-in-need-of-redemption/7116)
Photo by Chip Somodevilla