wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Church leaders term Bush budget 'unjust'

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8669 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05137
March 9, 2005

Church leaders term Bush budget 'unjust'

Kirkpatrick among those calling for opposition to '06 spending plan

by Jerry L. Van Marter

WASHINGTON, DC - The leaders of five mainline Protestant denominations,
speaking together at a press conference here yesterday, called President
Bush's 2006 federal budget "unjust."

The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
General Assembly, had been scheduled to attend but stayed in Louisville for
the announcement of the successful conclusion of the Taco Bell boycott. (See
story.) 

Kirkpatrick was represented by the Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory, director of
the PC(USA)'s Washington Office. She read a statement Kirkpatrick had
prepared.   

In their joint statement, the leaders - of the PC(USA), the United Church of
Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist
Church and the Episcopal Church (USA) - urged all people of conscience to
join them in opposing the President's budget plan.

Frank Griswold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, invoked the story
in the Gospel of Luke about a poor man named Lazarus whose needs are ignored
by the rich man who finds him lying at the gate of his comfortable home. When
the two men die, Lazarus goes to heaven and the rich man goes to hell. 

 "In telling this story, Jesus makes clear that perpetrating economic
injustice is among the gravest of sins," Griswold said.   

 In their statement, the church leaders said: "Like many Americans, we read
our daily newspaper through the lens of faith, and when we see injustice, it
is our duty to say so. The 2006 Federal Budget that President Bush has sent
to Capitol Hill is unjust. It has much for the rich man and little for
Lazarus."

They concluded: "We urge the members of our churches, of other churches and
other faiths, and all whose conscience compels them to do justice, to join us
in opposing this budget. And we invite them to work with us on economic
policies infused with the spirit of the man who began his public ministry
almost 2,000 years ago by proclaiming that God had anointed him "to bring
good news to the poor."

Each of the five also issued separate statements, outlining areas of
particular concern. 

The full text of Kirkpatrick's statement:

On behalf of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), I am
pleased to join my colleagues as we address this nation on the critical moral
issues related to the federal budget. 

As both chambers of Congress develop their respective budget resolutions for
the coming year, the churches of this nation urge them to develop resolutions
that respond to the real deficits faced by our society - the deficits of
hunger, poverty and access to health care.

When the Presbyterian Church (USA) adopted The Confession of 1967, we
proclaimed: "The reconciliation ... through Jesus Christ makes it plain that
enslaving poverty in a world of abundance is an intolerable violation of
God's good creation." (The Confession of 1967, 9.46)

Enslaving poverty in a world of abundance is an intolerable violation of
God's good creation. My friends, we see this intolerable violation today:

* 36 million Americans live below the poverty line, and nearly half of them
live in deep poverty, with incomes below half the poverty line - and their
number is growing!

* 18 percent of children - nearly one in five kids - in this country are
living in poverty - and their number is growing!

* 45 million Americans are without health insurance and millions more are
underinsured - and their number is growing!

* 13 million children in the U.S. live in households where people have to
skip meals or eat less to make ends meet - and their number is growing!

This is a moral outrage in a nation, like ours, of abundance; a nation with a
gross domestic product of about $11 trillion. And a nation with wide income
disparities.

	The Gospel of Matthew (at) 6:21 says, "For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also." The heart of our federal budget must be
directed toward those who are in need.

	This budget does not do enough to address the human-needs deficits
faced by our society. It calls for at least $45 billion in cuts to Medicaid,
the program that provides health care for low-income families and seniors,
over the next 10 years. It would cut Food Stamps for 200,000 to 300,000
individuals in working families. It would cut the number of children
receiving child care assistance by 300,000 in 2009.

	Members of Congress: we seek a federal budget with a plan to reduce
the human-needs deficits that we face as a nation. We call on you to advocate
for a budget resolution that will address the intolerable violations of our
world today - particularly poverty, hunger and inadequate health care. Let
our budget truly reflect the fact that we sincerely treasure the vulnerable
among us as they, too, are children of the same God we all hold dear.

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