Ten Reasons Why Christians Should #OCCUPYWALLSTREET

10. Because "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying the cross." - Sinclair Lewis

9. Because the symbol of Wall Street is a golden effing calf! (Worse actually: a fully grown, angry bull.) How much more obvious could the symbolism be? The creepy market worship is bad enough, but once you start totemizing invisible forces into bears and bulls, let's face it: it's a religion, Wall Street is its Holy Land, and the bankers are its high priests. Corporate Capitalism, as a religion, teaches us to envy our neighbors, exploit the less fortunate, wage war, and hoard as much as we can for ourselves.

8. Because Jesus' most furious moment was at those who used the Temple in Jerusalem for cheap religious consumerism. (Come to think of it, if he had flipped the tables of the money changers today, likely we would criticize him for harming small local business owners.) What provoked righteous outrage was this desecration of the holiest center of his religion, Judaism. Using Christianity as cover for idolizing money, worshiping wealth, and making war for profit is nothing less than blasphemy, and this spiritual desecration hurts our souls as well as our bodies.

7. Because of the Sermon on the Mount, duh. Blessed are the peacemakers! And this makes us all - ALL - children of God. How revolutionary is that?

6. Because, if you're Protestant, PROTEST is in the name. (Lutherans: Let me see your 95 Theses!)

5. Because, if you're Catholic, Dorothy Day, Daniel Berrigan, Oscar Romero, Mother Teresa and so many others all understood that corporate war-making was no way to follow Christ.

4. Because religion (if not necessarily Christianity) invented chant, and we can be way more creative than screaming "NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE" for hours until we're hoarse. Because we have beautiful, heart-opening treasures to share from our traditions in meditation, contemplation, prayer and song.

3. Because "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:19). Let's bind our fear and judgment, and let loose our joy and hope!

2. Because Jesus loves everyone AND that didn't keep him from calling out the Pharisees for being legalistic oppressors.

1. Because the life within us that we call God calls us to be Christ's voice, hands, and feet. We can't do that by sitting fearfully at our computers, allowing the powers of this world to destroy the earth and all its inhabitants.