Consumption's effects.

Our church has formed a discussion group around your periodical, and our discussion on "Cry Freedom" (by David Batstone, March 2007) met with some disappointment--not in the article itself, but in what we deemed the more-pointed issue. The enslavement of many of God's children is because of us, First World nations with insatiable appetites for cheap products. Now we are wrestling with how we can work as Christians to break the cycle. The moral issue--and, I would argue, the sin (even if done in ignorance)--is that our self-centered lifestyles keep millions from proper schooling and nutrition and unable to escape the squalor of townships and shanty towns.

Let's wrestle with the products and companies we support and find out how their business practices and our consumption affects the lives of our neighbors around the world. How can the church mobilize to break the cycle at its roots, rather than fighting its symptoms?

Scott Oberle

Portage, Michigan