wfn.org | ABCUSA: Minister's Council Urges Ministers to Speak Out on Budget

["BROWN, Matthew" <Matthew.Brown@abc-usa.org>]

> VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS)-In this time of advent, the ABC Minister's
> Council urges American Baptist ministers to "raise a collective voice"
> against poverty," and to speak out on budget priorities.
>
> These are excerpts from news reports on recent budget measures:
> *	The House recently passed a budget-cutting measure that would
> save $50 billion over five years by trimming food stamp rolls,
> imposing new fees on Medicaid recipients, squeezing student lenders,
> cutting child-support enforcement funds and paring agriculture
> programs. House negotiators are trying to reach accord with senators
> who passed a more modest $35 billion bill that largely spares programs
> for the poor.
> *	In another recent vote, the House voted 234-197 to approve a $56
> billion measure to extend capital gains and dividend tax cuts for
> another two years, until 2010. Under these tax cuts, the 400 taxpayers
> with the highest incomes - those who received a minimum of $87 million
> in 2000, the last year for which the government will release such data
> - now pay income, Medicare and Social Security taxes amounting to
> virtually the same percentage of their incomes as people making
> $50,000 to $75,000. Those earning more than $10 million a year now pay
> a lesser share of their income in these taxes than those making
> $100,000 to $200,000.
> *	Some of the wealthiest Americans, including Warren E. Buffett,
> George Soros and Ted Turner, have warned that such a concentration of
> wealth can turn a meritocracy into an aristocracy and ultimately
> stifle economic growth by putting too much of the nation's capital in
> the hands of inheritors rather than strivers and innovators. Speaking
> of the increasing concentration of incomes, Alan Greenspan, the
> Federal Reserve chairman, warned in Congressional testimony a year
> ago: "For the democratic society, that is not a very desirable thing
> to allow it to happen." 1
>
> Should budget issues be a priority for us as American Baptist
> ministers?
>
> During this advent season, we're reminded that when Jesus came, he
> came with an agenda. The Bible only quotes Jesus preaching in a
> synagogue once. In Luke 4:16-19 Jesus is quoted as preaching from
> Isaiah 61:1-1-2. He quotes Isaiah as the one who is anointed by the
> Spirit of the Lord to "preach good news to the poor, to proclaim
> freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, to release
> the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he
> tells the people "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
> He is telling them, and us, that he is the Anointed One who has come
> with God's agenda. He came with an agenda to help people who needed
> help, clearly reflecting the priority of our God.
>
> As our vision statement tells us, American Baptists are a
> Christ-centered, biblically grounded, ethnically diverse people called
> to radical personal discipleship in Christ Jesus. As "a people of
> prayer, purpose, and passion" who are called out to radical
> discipleship, what Jesus sets as an agenda ought to be our passionate
> agenda. If our country is setting priorities that are inconsistent
> with what God dictates, then we ought to raise a collective voice of
> objection out of our love for God and our love for our country.
>
> There are many religious groups who have done just that, but there are
> many who do not feel that these budget cuts should be a Christian
> priority. There are those who believe that our Christian priorities
> should rather be on abortion and same-sex marriages. Some people
> believe that Jesus came solely to help people turn away from sinful
> behaviors and to guide us to an individualized self-righteousness. To
> understand that Jesus came to provide spiritual guidance for people to
> repent and turn back to God does not preclude God's clear intention to
> help those who have other needs. The two go together and cannot fairly
> be separated. A people cannot allow the poor who live among them to
> continue to be oppressed and claim the righteousness of God. Care of
> the poor is not an option for God's people, but is demanded by the two
> top commandments, that we must love God (by loving what God loves) and
> love each other (by doing for each other what we would want to have
> done for us).
>
> There are others who have the opinion that the government's role
> should be to encourage charitable giving, but that the government
> should not be responsible for helping the poor. The commandment from
> God to care for the poor is not limited to simply providing charitable
> services. The Isaiah text that Jesus quoted says further on in the
> passage that God loves justice, and hates robbery and iniquity. It is
> the system of injustice that creates and maintains poverty in the
> midst of plenty that God hates. One of God's biggest complaints
> against the people of Israel was that they no longer took care of the
> poor in their midst (see Isaiah 58: 6-7). God's anger has to do with
> the established priorities of a collective people. God was speaking to
> the people at a time when there were no clear lines between the
> religious establishment and the government-the religious leaders were
> the governing body. Those in our present government who are followers
> of God are also called by God to account for themselves in relation to
> God's priorities. As their religious leaders, it is our duty to
> encourage them to listen to Gods call for justice for the poor.
>
> The poor will always be with us. When Jesus said this, he did not mean
> that we should do nothing to help the poor or that the help we give to
> the poor should be limited in any way. That would be inconsistent with
> who God is. There will always be people who need help; i.e., people
> who are born with mental and physical disabilities, people who are
> born into and broken by hardships, people who fall prey to addictions
> and crime, and people who simply fall on hard times. Our job as
> followers of Christ is to find as many ways as we can to help them,
> and the best help that we can offer is to do everything we can to
> bring them out of the condition of being poor. "Everything" includes
> political action.
>
> As a people of God, American Baptists have embraced the National
> Ministries initiative to serve children in poverty. Our children are
> our most important asset and they are our most vulnerable citizens.
> There are many ways that we can approach the initiative to help them,
> but we should not limit ourselves to any particular way of operating.
> As Christians, we tend to differ on what ought to be our priorities.
> That's because all of us are only human, and we will disagree. We
> should not let our disagreements on what should be the best approach
> paralyze us so that we take no approach. Those of us who are
> comfortable with taking a stand on the social justice issue and
> speaking out against the budget cuts with the prophetic voice of God
> must do so. Those of us who are more comfortable providing services
> and giving meals and clothes to the poor must do so. There is plenty
> of work needed to help people who are in trouble; we don't all have to
> do the same thing. But we must all do something, and we must do all
> that God calls us out to do. Let's not demand that we all approach the
> issue from one side; let's engage in a multi-faceted attack against
> poverty. Let's hate the injustice of poverty like God hates it, and
> make God's priority our priority.
>
> Passed by the Ministers Council Executive Committee - December 21,
> 2005
>
> (The Ministers Council Bylaws Mission Statement specifically
> authorizes the right of the group to make such prophetic statements:
> We are women and men who advocate for and covenant with each other to
> deepen our spiritual journey and to increase our effectiveness, as
> persons who are accepting the call of God and church for advancement
> of the Gospel mission of the church of Jesus Christ and to proclaim
> His truth in a prophetic voice as led by the Holy Spirit).
>
>
> 1 See Washington Post , December 14, 2005 article by Jonathan Weisman
> and Alan Cooperman; New York Times, June 2005 article by David C.
> Johnston
>
>
>
> Matthew Brown
> Webmaster
> Office of the General Secretary
> American Baptist Churches USA
> 610-768-2159 Phone
> 610.768.2309 Fax
> www.abcusamissions.org
>
>
>