$50,000 a year for the next 10 years. That’s how much each church in the United States would have to spend in order to replace the Ryan budget’s $133 billion in cuts to nutrition programs for struggling families. (That’s not counting the additional $33 billion proposed by the House Agriculture Committee).
This finding comes from a new campaign by anti-hunger group Bread for the World to protect funding for food assistance programs that save lives and keep families afloat in these perilous economic times. The statistic stands in sharp contrast to the all-too-common conservative argument that churches and private charity will “pick up the slack” created by draconian budget cuts to safety net programs.
The reality, of course, is that charities are already stretched to their limits. The scope of need in America is just too large for them to handle on their own. In fact, pastors across the country have spoken out about how they can’t do it alone and are eager to partner with federal programs that provide.
Clergy echoed this message again on a Bread for the World conference call last week:
“You can’t get blood from a turnip,” said the Rev. Barb Hobe, pastor of Bethany United Church of Christ in Lebanon, Ohio. “My congregation numbers less than 50 people, and most are in the last third of their lives. We’re already reaching out to the poorest of the poor.”
Politicians who cut necessary safety net programs to pay for tax cuts for the rich and wasteful, unwanted military spending are doing religious communities no favors, regardless of how innocuous their rhetoric sounds.
The FPL News Reel is a daily round-up of the top faith and politics stories in the news. You can sign up for the email version of the News Reel here, subscribe to the RSS feed here, and follow it on twitter at @FPLNewsreel.
Creating a New Progressive Ecumenical Church Relationship By Rev. Chuck Currie — Huffington Post, Opinion
…this is needed because we must serve as a count weight to those who would and will misuse our Christian faith to promote agendas of hate and discrimination.
The ban on torture is absolute By Linda Gustitus — The Hill, Congress Blog
…the truth is, it’s morally corrupting of society as a whole, and it violates the most fundamental values of a civilized world that each person must be treated as having worth and dignity or we risk the worth and dignity of us all.
4 Years Later, Race Is Still Issue for Some Voters By Sabrina Tavernise — New York Times
Researchers have long struggled to quantify racial bias in electoral politics, in part because of the reliance on surveys, a forum in which respondents rarely admit to prejudice.
Immigration law protesters detained outside Alabama Senate door By Kim Chandler — Birmingham News
The Rev. Angela Wright…said the group were individuals “who felt moved by faith and conscience to speak out against all the moral and human suffering caused by Alabama’s immigration laws.”
Growing divestment campaign among churches targets biggest US banks By Dennis Sadowski — Catholic News Service
Religious congregations have withdrawn about $40 million nationwide from the country’s largest banks, including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup, said Tim Lillienthal, lead organizer with the PICO National Network, the largest faith-based organizing network in the United States.
Keep down the rates of student loans By Alan Kalish — Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Opinion
As a college president, I know firsthand how important it is that something be worked out. We must educate our young people in order to have a productive workforce.
Is Wall Street Meeting God’s Expectations? By David Weidner — Wall Street Journal
There is just one problem. Almost everyone I asked, religious, academics and atheists, said that Matthew, and by extension, God, wasn’t talking about money.
Methodists Keep Stricture on Homosexuality By Laurie Goodstein — New York Times
The United Methodist Church at its convention in Tampa, Fla., on Thursday voted against changing long-contested language in its book of laws and doctrines that calls homosexuality “incompatible with Christian teaching.”
N.C. black pastor treads carefully on gay marriage By Yonat Shimron — Religion News Service
Most black churches consider homosexuality a sin, and have resisted any attempt to reinterpret biblical passages condemning it. But some pastors are finding ways to skirt — for now — the theological issue, and support equal treatment of gays and lesbians as a legislative concern.
Inspired by their faith, a group of Alabamians are refusing to give up despite their own elected officials’ intransigence. Yesterday they prayed and sang outside the Senate chamber, blocking the entryway and forcing the Senators to hear their message. Rev. Angie Wright explained:
The purpose was twofold. One purpose was to express moral outrage and opposition to HB 56, Alabama’s inhumane immigration law, and secondly to challenge the Senate to take action and to move through their fear of standing up to the opposition they face.
In a letter released Thursday, Cardinal Dolan and New York State’s bishops express concern that “it is becoming increasingly difficult for the working poor of our state to make ends meet.”
They write:
Our sustained recession and painfully slow recovery have left many [full time, minimum wage] workers — often people of color and frequently the newest immigrants to our shores who therefore have the fewest support systems — on the brink of homelessness, with not enough in their paychecks to pay for the most basic of necessities, like food, medicine or clothing for their children.
The debate over minimum wage has intensified over the past few weeks, with the Republican-controlled Senate refusing to even consider the bill. The bishops, however, have made their position clear:
It is our hope and our prayer that the two sides could come together for some sort of action to address the grave problems facing the lowest-wage earners in our state. We believe an increase in the minimum wage is a matter of fairness and justice, and we hope it can be addressed soon.
The FPL News Reel is a daily round-up of the top faith and politics stories in the news. You can sign up for the email version of the News Reel here, subscribe to the RSS feed here, and follow it on twitter at @FPLNewsreel.
Defense trumps poverty in Republican House By David Rogers — Politico
…here come the House Republicans, marching into the sunlight by shifting billions from poverty programs to the Pentagon, all within hours of adopting an entirely new round of tax cuts for those earning more than $1 million a year.
The Catholic vote is the 2012 bellwether By Chris Cillizza and Rachel Weiner — Washington Post, The Fix
…new polling from Gallup suggests that it’s Catholics who could well be the best bellwether of whether President Obama or former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney will be elected president this November.
Dolan and Bishops Urge Albany to Raise Minimum Wage By Thomas Kaplan — New York Times
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan and New York State’s bishops are calling on the Legislature to increase the minimum wage, adding an influential source of support to a proposal that has divided lawmakers along party lines.
Father Tom Reese vs. Paul Ryan (and Stephen Colbert) By E.J. Dionne Jr. — Washington Post, Opinion
I signed the letter not only because — this won’t surprise readers of my column — I agreed with its criticism of Ryan’s approach to budget issues but also because the letter welcomed Ryan to Georgetown. All universities, including Catholic universities, should be open to a wide range of views, and I’m glad Ryan came last week.
The Lower Floor By Linda Greenhouse — New Yok Times, Opinionator
Poring over the argument transcript and the briefs, what finally came through as most deeply troubling was this: the failure of any participant in the argument, justice or advocate for either side, to affirm the simple humanity of Arizona’s several hundred thousand undocumented residents.
Evangelist Billy Graham backs marriage amendment By Associated Press
His complete statement is contained in a full-page ad slated to appear in 14 North Carolina newspapers throughout the weekend.
$50,000 a year for the next 10 years. That’s how much each church in the United States would have to spend in order to replace the Ryan budget’s $133 billion in cuts to nutrition programs for struggling families. (That’s not counting the additional $33 billion proposed by the House Agriculture Committee).