(Ir)religiosity

This post may get me into trouble.

Gas prices just aren’t high enough.  They really aren’t.  That is, if we really want justice in the world.

Don’t get me wrong, I hate paying upwards to $4.00/gallon just as much as the next guy and I complain probably twice as much — that just proves that most days I’m a walking talking paradox of contradictions.  That aside, I find it very interesting that some people (myself included) who are constantly ranting and raving about the need for justice in the world are the same people demanding that they pay almost half as much in gas prices as the rest of world — the same world that according to them, is in dire need of justice.

That just doesn’t really add up for me.

Frankly, it makes it a little hard for me take the people who get on their soap box about all the problems in the world while at the same timewhining about the cost of gas for their Hummer, or the high interest rate on their hybrid payment very seriously.

One word.  Consistency.

Now granted some people are paying less, but they live in countries where only the richest of the rich elite can afford a vehicle.  Of the developed Western countries, the US ranks among the cheapest in gas prices.  And we have for a while. Were we living in a just world, we’d be paying twice as much, at least.

I know it’s hard for anyone to be completely consistent while living within an empire like we do.  But we can do the best we can.  And at the very least we can be aware of our actions, which define and dictate our ethos, and, more importantly, our theology.

So I wonder — what if instead of demanding justice out of one side of our mouth while bemoaning our addiction to oil and capitalism (only when it is convenient of course) with the other — what might happen if we showed some solidarity with the rest of the world, not by demanding lower gas prices, but by accepting nothing less than higher gas prices?

I understand the problems with this.  But at the very least I think it’s something to think pretty seriously about.  And I use the gas issue only as a timely example of our larger problem: the fact the we can very easily decry injustice in the world from our positions of privilege (like writing blogs for example) while at the same time demanding that injustice and the status quo be further reinforced.

The very least we can do is be aware of our contradictions while actively finding ways to show solidarity and participating in acts of resistance from within the belly of the beast.