Rotten To The Core…?

As scandal follows on the heels of scandal in Washington, DC, we are being asked to believe, repeatedly, that all the dastardly deeds have been the work of a few “bad apples,” a few rogue operatives, who presumed to act without anyone’s authority or approval.  

Trouble is, many of us are finding the ” few bad apples” claim increasingly difficult to swallow. But what IS the truth?

Are all these despoilers acting on orders from higher up? Who created the stench? Should we assume that the disease originates in the Oval Office?

That would be shocking (or not)…but solvable.

What is more troubling is a thought that Joel Belz posits in his May 31 editorial in WorldMag.com. (If you receive World magazine in the mail, it was published in the issue dated June 15.)  Here’s what he says (emphasis mine):

Faith and Action

“We have learned a bit too late in the day that action springs not from thought but from a readiness for responsibility.”    —Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

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I suspect that there are many believers who, like me, wonder just how long evil will have to persist before the righteous rise up to renounce it. We may know what we think personally about some issues, but we either don’t know or don’t seek to know what to do.