Predatory lending, predatory treatment of low-wage workers, predatory destruction of small businesses through private equity vehicles, predatory violation of young girls and boys: it's all part of the same lawless romp for these high-flying folks.

Dick Price and Sharon Kyle of the LA Progressive have a conversation with Peter Laarman, a retired minister who formerly led Progressive Christians Uniting in Los Angeles. Peter says, “When I studied my Bible as a kid in Wisconsin, I was always puzzled and even a bit disturbed by the way in which those prophets would almost invariably shmoosh together what seemed to me like very different offenses: sexual immorality, worship of false gods, and economic oppression. Is God equally pissed off about all these things? I asked myself: how very strange that God can’t focus His anger a little more precisely. Or maybe God enjoys being pissed off in general. As I say, it was all rather confusing to a teenaged farm boy.

Now that I am in my eighth decade, I think I understand these things a little better. In the first place, I understand that “God is angry” is the prophets’ way of saying something is deeply wrong. In other words, you don’t have to believe in an angry God in order to appreciate prophetic critique. And second, I understand that grouping together sexual violation, religious profanation, and economic exploitation is exactly the right way to frame moral rot at the heart of any nation, as these three forms of oppression usually run together.”. Peter Laarman’s column can be found at https://www.laprogressive.com/author/peter-laarman