Is Your Religion Easier for the Poor or the Rich to Accept?

I am stuck on a contradiction. Jesus said that “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”

Yet, our churches are becoming elite spaces. Church attendance is correlated with being wealthier. Attendance has held steady for those with college degrees but dropped sharply for those who have not.

I flew to San Francisco last week and fell into a conversation with the 26-year-old next to me. He graduated with a computer science degree in 2019 and can barely find work in his industry. His view of both the present and future is bleak: we are hopefully repressed by the patriarchy; climate change is set to cause untold destruction and death; and spiraling wealth inequality is decimating the middle class. We are suffering symptoms of “late-stage capitalism.” His own life will likely be brutish, short, and underemployed.

Both the guy in the row behind us and the lady in front of us, independently, interjected to tell him he needs Jesus. That’s where you find hope in any situation, however dire. I agree.

The problem is, the guy behind us is a successful software developer, the lady in front of us is a retiree returning from a cruise, and I’m securely employed, married, and housed. We all benefit from conservative Jesus. He needs radical Jesus.