Excerpt: Those who have spent time inside Occupy camps know them as secular. But Rev. Stephen Copley, chairman of Let Justice Roll, a coalition pushing to raise the U.S. minimum wage (currently $7.25/hr), says the ideas of Occupy, if not the language, have entered the faith community.
“When Occupy broke out, it got those of us in the faith community charged up again. It started a conversation that didn’t stop,” said Copley, a Methodist pastor from Arkansas.
“That debate now centers on how the rules changed for working Americans. Most of us thought the word ‘economy’ always meant ‘opportunity’ — inequality was acceptable as long as everybody had the same chance to move up.
“But that’s not true anymore. The nature of the economy changed toward low-paying service jobs that keep people on the margins of poverty. And we’ll continue this conversation, with or without the Occupy movement. Whether the thing lives on in name, that is the legacy right there.”
© 2012 Toronto Star
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