THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 13, 1996 TAG: 9601130090
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Issues of Faith
SOURCE: Betsy Wright
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
MANY PEOPLE OF FAITH believe America will be judged by God for its wickedness, listing abortion and homosexuality at the top of the list of things God's gonna get us for.
I believe if God decides to ``get us'' it will be for the way we love, or more correctly, the way we hate our poor. There seems to be a mindset today that says if you're poor it's your own fault, so pull yourself out of poverty.
Don't believe me? Take a look at the following words and deeds, then try to reconcile them with a few of God's commands for us to love and care for the poor, gleaned from the world's great religions.
Then ask yourself the question a reader once posed to me: ``How can abortion and homosexuality be moral issues while hunger and home-lessness are not?''
``Some people are better than others. They deserve more of society's rewards.'' (Social scientist Charles Murray, in his 1984 book ``Losing Ground'')
``The first perfection is giving. As a full jar overthrown pours out the liquid and keeps back nothing, even so shall your charity be without reserve - as a jar overturned.'' (Sutta-Pitaka; Buddha-Vasma: W p. 11)
``(I wonder) how they multiply like that. It's like maggots on a hot day. You look one minute and there are so many there . . . You look again and wow! they've tripled.'' (Bob Grant, WABC radio, New York, speaking of African-American welfare mothers, as cited by Jonathan Kozol in his book, ``Amazing Grace.)
``Pity the misfortunes of others . . . help those who are in want.'' (Tao Te Ching)
``(Welfare is the way) we subsidize the very pathological behaviors that we know consign people to hopeless and generational poverty.'' (Christian Coalition chair Ralph Reed, as cited by Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman)
``He who has the goods of this world and sees his brother in need and closes his heart to him, how does the love of God abide in him? My dear children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue, but in deed and in truth.'' (I John 3:17-18)
``We have to cut off the head of the enemy and the enemy is the homeless.'' (Commanding officer, Central Park police, New York Times, July 1994, as cited by Kozol, ``Amazing Grace'')
``The righteous . . . give sustenance to the poor man, the orphan and the captive, saying: `We feed you for God's sake only; we seek of you neither recompense nor thanks.' '' (The Koran)
``If poor people behaved rationally, they would seldom be poor for long in the first place.'' (Lawrence Mead, professor of political science at New York University, cited by the New York Times, May 19, 1992)
``If . . . there is a needy person among you . . . do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kinsman. Rather, you must open your hand and lend him sufficient for whatever he needs. For there will never cease to be needy ones in your land, which is why I command you: open your hand to the poor and needy . . . '' (Deuteronomy 15:10-11)
``. . . The lowest (earning) 20 percent of the population would lose more income under (proposed congressional) spending cuts than the rest of the population combined. At the other end, the highest (earning) 20 percent would gain more from the tax cuts than everyone else combined.'' (David Gergen, Editor-at-Large, U.S. News and World Report, Nov. 1995)
``The superior man helps those whose need is urgent and not the rich to be richer.'' (Confucius)
``We have emphasized repeatedly that scaling back the cash benefits to (welfare) mothers is the least we can do and still honestly claim to be changing the system.'' (Aug. 29, 1995 letter to Sen. Bob Dole from leaders of the Christian Coalition, Family Research Council and six other organizations of the Religious Right, as cited by The Freedom Writer, Dec. 1995)
``. . . I was hungry and you gave me food . . . Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'' (Jesus Christ, Matthew 25:34-40) MEMO: Every other week, Betsy Mathews Wright publishes responses to her
opinion column. Send responses to Issues of Faith, The Virginian-Pilot,
150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510; call (804) 446-2273; FAX
(804) 436-2798; or send computer message via bmw(AT)infi.net. Deadline
is Tuesday prior to publication. Must include name, city and phone
number. by CNB