In a July 31, 2019 blog post titled Applying the Dialogical Lens to the Parable of the Rich Fool, the Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade writes:

In a survey of 1200 mainline Protestant preachers I conducted two years ago, I asked what social issues they were willing to address in their sermons. 

I listed 38 topics for them to choose from, and the results turned up an interesting paradox.

“Poverty” was the number one issue preachers said they had addressed in their sermons (checked off by 83% of respondents).  At the same time, they listed “Critique of capitalism” as one of the topics they most actively avoid in their preaching.  It was the third most avoided topic, behind “women’s reproductive health” and “fossil fuel extraction.”

This raises a question: how can we talk about poverty if we avoid talking about the economic system in which poverty exists?...

The post goes on to suggest specific ways that churches might use deliberative dialogue, and some resources that are available to help do that, including discussion materials that are available from the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI).

Click here to read the full blog post.