What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord God of hosts. (Isaiah 3.15 NRSV)
For many years it has been the Republican Party that has carried the banner of "family values" into political fights. Whether or not they ever had any legitimate claim on such a title is debatable (some might argue laughable) but certainly the question has been settled with certainty now that House Republicans have proposed their federal budget for FY12.
In the faith community we like to say that "budgets are moral documents." The budget proposals put forward by the GOP are anti-family, target those Jesus would have termed the "least of these" in society, and put at risk the health and welfare of children in the United States and abroad. For people of faith, these proposals should be a wakeup call and rally cry to live out the teachings put forth in Holy Scripture with forceful advocacy.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes that Republicans aren't even waiting for the next budget. GOP House leaders want cuts now that will impact young people:
Some 157,000 at-risk children up to age 5 could lose education, health, nutrition, and other services under Head Start, while funds for Pell Grants that help students go to college would fall by nearly 25 percent, under a Republican proposal on the House floor to cut current-year (2011) non-security discretionary funding by 13.8 percent. That proposal also would kill a program that helps low-income families weatherize their homes and permanently reduce their home energy bills, cut federal funds for employment and training services for jobless workers and for clean water and safe drinking water by more than half, and raise the risk that the WIC nutrition program may not be able to serve all eligible low-income women, infants, and children under age 5. In addition, it would cut funds for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by 22 percent, for the Food and Drug Administration by 10 percent, and for the Food Safety Inspection Service by 9 percent.
The Washington Post notes that they want to follow-up those cuts with even more draconian spending cuts in their proposed FY12 budget, including cutting "$747 million in food aid for poor pregnant women and women with children up to the age of 5" and reducing "Pell Grants for lower-income college students by $5.6 billion."
The National Low-Income Housing Coalition has said that the GOP's budget proposal would cut "the public housing capital fund by $1.072 billion, more than 40%, endangering public housing households, more than half of whom are elderly and/or disabled, and more than 40% of whom have children" and cut
* USDA Rural Development programs by almost $500 million;* FEMA's Emergency Food and Shelter grants by 50%;
* HHS funding for community health centers by 46%;
* Community Service Block Grants by 46%; and
* the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program by 66%.
All of this at a time of record poverty brought about by the economic policies enacted by President George W. Bush and the last GOP Congress.
The wealthiest Americans will still get their tax breaks.
Republicans would also defund health care reform -- increasing the deficit and cutting off over 30 million people from receiving health insurance -- and, as has been blogged at Think Progress, eliminate the funds necessary to protect the environment, God's own creation.
In theological terms, these proposed cuts are a sin. They would harm the most vulnerable among us and endanger the planet. There is no getting around it with soft words: the House GOP budget is an immoral document -- they are grinding the face of the poor -- and Christians and other people of faith should strongly oppose these proposals at the same time that we challenge President Obama to do more in these areas. The president has said he is willing to compromise with congressional leaders. But in his State of the Union Address, President Obama also said the budget could not be balanced on the backs of the most vulnerable. Any compromise with the House on these issues would break the backs of the most vulnerable and be a betrayal of the principles President Obama has articulated in terms of both his personal faith and his governing philosophy.
Our national church bodies and local religious leaders should take the led in fighting these cuts. We can be -- and we should be -- civil in our debates over the direction of our nation but we cannot be silent in the face of such harmful economic policies. This is a time for principled action and how religious leaders respond will be a test of our faithfulness.
Follow Rev. Chuck Currie on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RevChuckCurrie
Robert Reich: The Republican Strategy
Peter Hart: How to Save Ourselves From the 'Save PBS' Routine
Jim Wallis: This Lent -- Looking Inward, Looking Outward
Michelle Chen: From Wisconsin to Washington, Budget Cuts Draw Battle Lines
GOP leaders propose billions in cuts to Obama's budget request
House GOP Targets Dozens of Government Programs With Spending Cut ...
Dissecting the House Budget Committee's 2011 Budget Cuts | The ...
House Republicans to propose deeper budget cuts - Los Angeles Times
Proposed House Budget Cuts Likely to Top $100 Billion - TIME
Conrad on House Budget Cuts: Political Capital With Al Hunt ...
Conrad Spurns House Budget Cuts, Warns of Government Shutdown ...
Jesus was not a politician. He did not advocate the long arm of government to replace individual charity. If Rev. Currie and those of his church want to give to the needs of housing and health care for the needy, they certainly have that option.
Jesus was concerned first and foremost with the conditions of men’s hearts. This is why charity is a PERSONAL matter and not a government matter. It does nothing for the individual heart or our relationship with God when government takes our money to give to the poor against our will.
Charity should be a matter of CHOICE not government compulsion.
Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7
My church as some simple solutions to temporal needs of others. It may be financially harsh for you personally, but start with a lay clergy. Being a tent maker kept Paul from being a burden. Next have members fast one day a month and donate the cost of two meals as an offering to the needy. It not only provides funds, it creates empathy for those in need. Third, periodically organize groups such as the youth to do humanitarian services. Fourth, organize across church boundaries. In our community four different churches rotate weekly meals for the poor.
This may be carried on by secular groups as well, but churches has the strongest purpose in getting it started. "WE are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and dry the eye of the orphan, where ever we find them, whether in this church or any other or no church at all.
Now let me ask you a related question. What does it mean for people of faith, and Christians in particular, when pagans like myself, and many, many atheists, follow the teachings of Christ more closely than many if not most fundamentalist Christians?
You didn't answer the question except to imply that the reverend and I only THINK we are following the teachings of Christ more closely than some fundamentalist Christians.
The rest of your post addresses no point that I made.
Said another way, the wealthiest Americans will still pay the vast, vast majority of income taxes. Coveting is still a sin.
Are you dishonest by intent, or just due to your staggering ignorance of what is really going on?
A. Christian gives away his/her money.
B. "Christian" reverend asks the government to take from neighbor A by force and/or threat of imprisonment to give to neighbor B. Neighbor A may not be able to vote or may not even be born yet (i.e., we are borrowing money to give away and someone else will have to pay it back).
If you can find any Bible verses to support "B" I'd like to see them.
Bonus question: How does supporting abortion -- including taxpayer funded abortion, as Chuck does -- qualify as loving the "least of these?"
2nd bonus question: Have Chuck and all the conservative bashers here given away all their money?
Have you given all you have to the poor? Or are you one of the poor who thinks you are exempt? Jesus did not exempt the poor from giving like the U.S. government does.
I'd do some research on that. Start with Joe Biden: He "gives" 0.2% of his roughly quarter-million dollar income (that is point-two percent, not two percent — only $369 per year).
A truly inconvenient truth: Al & Tipper Gore donated $353 of their 1997 income of $197,729, or 0.18%. That is a fraction of 1%. I wonder if he’s making real donations now that he’s getting rich off the AGW fraud?
Obama consistently gave 1 percent of his income to charity. 2005 was his biggest giving, when he earned $1.7 million (2.5x what Pres. Bush made) but he gave about the same dollar amount as the President.
Again, giving other people's money isn't giving.
They bow down to Grover Norquist and sign a pledge not to raise taxes, as he commands.
They follow the teachings of Frank Luntz, who every Republican "leader" quotes ad nauseum and pretty much verbatim until we are nearly insane from the pure monotony of it. Do you think that's what inspires so much anger in the Tea Party types... hearing the same words over and over and over like constant nagging?
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (NIV)
These words mean NOTHING to Republican Christians. Nothing.
Fat Fingered Typos/ Although not wearing my reading glasses doesn't help.