On Good Friday, Christians remember Jesus' torture and execution. It was conducted by an occupying power, with the collusion of powerful interest groups.
On Saturday night, many take part in the Great Vigil of Easter, where we watch and wait for Easter and the Resurrection. On Sunday, of course, we celebrate Easter.
It strikes me that with human rights, we are stuck on Saturday night.
Torture, genocide, pollution - all go on unopposed. Sometimes, our leaders even celebrate when they torture people, or conduct or help with genocide. They blame the victims. Like with drugs in America. America puts more people per capital in prison than even the most successful police states. The majority are African Americans.
You can say that the folks, regardless of race, who dealt drugs broke the law - but when you get outcomes this disproportionate, the law is either unfair or stupid. Oh, and why is crack cocaine, consumed more by Blacks in inner cities, more heavily punished than powder, when the physiological effects aren't all that different?
Even in Western countries, rising healthcare costs make it increasingly difficult for countries to help their citizens recognize the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. For mental health especially, our limited evidence base of interventions means that there is a certain part of the population for which no treatment is completely successful.
It may feel like it's night-time forever. Humans are so tragically flawed, and we will never on this earth reach our goal.
But when you think about it, Saturday night must have felt like forever for the disciples.
God gives us the grace to persist.
Whoever stands up for the rights of human beings, stands up for God.
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