the Christian drama

But the true drama for the Christian who takes the Gospel seriously is that he cannot live in justice, because he exists in a social state which is in contradiction with his ideal of brotherhood and holiness. He condemns war and he must live in a society which prepares for it; he eats his bread every day in a world where hundreds of thousands of individuals suffer from hunger; he makes use of the advantages of an economic system which admits of glaring abuses; he practises a profession perhaps where he is not allowed to be strictly honest. Certainly he applies himself, in the restricted circle of his activity, to denouncing these wrongs, to diminishing them and to making reparation for them; his share in the responsibility of the groups to which he belongs is no less. The collective sins of a society which tolerates public immorality and the misery of the slums are in part his sin, since he is one of the members of this society. He cannot stop the sins, which he abhors, from being committed. He must live and suffer in this continual tension