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Republicans claim
that caring for poor is best left to the churches and to ‘Christian
charity,’ not the government. They also claim that debt is a sin. Given
these claims, it might just blow your mind to learn that according to Church Finance Today, “68% of churches in the
West-South Central U.S., and 64% of churches in the East-South Central U.S.
have expenses exceeding income.” What’s worse, according to the same source,
“these are the best regions in the country.”
Republicans want us to
believe that Christian charity is sufficient for taking care of the
poor. Yet it’s obvious from these figures that Christians aren’t even able
to handle taking care of their own churches.
How can churches and Christian charity take
care of the poor when they can’t even pay their own bills?
How can we possibly
believe that churches, which can’t even pay their own bills, are going to be
able to care for the nation’s poor? We’re supposed to believe that these
churches will be able to provide for huge numbers of poverty stricken
Americans, because of Christian charity? What Christian charity?
Churches are
already on the verge of bankruptcy, because Christian charity obviously
isn’t enough to even keep their doors open. Yet we’re supposed to believe
that churches can fill the void, if government programs like
SNAP, WIC, welfare and housing assistance were to suddenly cease?
And what about debt? I
thought debt was slavery. I thought it was supposed to be a sin. How
can debt be a sin for the government, but not a sin for a
church? The government is not supposed to be bound by religious doctrine,
but the church is. What ever happened to ‘practice what you preach?’
How does this work,
exactly? Republicans say that spending more than you make means you have
cut back. With more than 60 percent of churches spending more than they make,
you’d think the right would be demanding spending cuts in the churches.
Balancing the budget is top priority, right?
But
no. Republicans are not talking about how the churches need to
start cutting back on spending. Even though it’s clear that churches are
already running up debt, republicans are pushing for them
to take on a whole new realm of programs and Christian charity activities.
In other words, they
are pushing for the churches to spend more than have, to provide programs
they obviously can’t afford.
But wait, that’s what
they say the government shouldn’t be doing…
How can right-wing
Christians be obsessing over the government’s budget issues, while totally
neglecting their own? And where are all those charitable givers, giving to
Christian charity? Aren’t they supposed to be giving money to the church,
in order to keep it out of slavery and debt and sin?
Right wing Christians
aren’t being realistic or honest about their own financial issues. The majority
of them would be the first to quote the proverbial “charity begins at home.”
Obviously Christian
charity does not begin at church. If it did then churches wouldn’t be
facing a financial crisis of this magnitude. The right wing has been
deceptively quiet about the churches financial woes. It seems they deliberately
side step the topic, in an effort to keep up the utterly false impression
that Christian charity will fill the gap, as more and more people are turned
away from government assistance.
What happens when Christian charity fails, as
it surely will?
The truth is the right
wing is not concerned about the poor, the sick or the elderly. The whole idea
that churches could ever hope to provide the kind of services that struggling
American families need is just laughable. But if enough people can be fooled
into believing the opposite, many programs can be eliminated, before the reality
sets in.
People are not
voluntary givers. No matter how Christian they claim to be, when left to their
own devices, most people will choose to be selfish, rather than charitable.
Talk to any Tea Partier or libertarian, they’ll tell you that. They think that
they shouldn’t have to contribute anything that they don’t want to contribute.
Keep talking to them and you’ll soon find out that they don’t want to
contribute anything, period.
This is why we must
have taxes. It’s why contributing to your country and your community can’t be
as optional as contributing to your church.