How Romney/Ryan Would Undermine Churches And Faith-Based Charities
This is what I'm always telling Cons who say that Jesus meant charities should be responsible for the poor NOT the govt. Look at 3rd worl Catholic countries with all their abject poverty. Where's the church there? Where was the church in the 1920's before any govt programs when the poverty rate was 50%?
How Romney/Ryan Would Undermine Churches And Faith-Based Charities
By Guest Blogger on Aug 31, 2012
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But if you peel back the rhetoric, would a Romney-Ryan presidency really help churches and faith groups “protect the weak”?
Ryan has said local charities and churches should provide for needy communities instead of the federal government. But there is a flaw this plan: churches and faith-based charities, which offer roughly $50 billion worth of services a year to the poor and needy, often depend on government funds to operate. Catholic Charities, for example, is one of the largest charities in America, and gets over half of its operating budget from federal funds.
Yet the Romney/Ryan ticket appears undeterred by this reality. In fact, if Romney followed through on Ryan’s proposed budget and cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $169 billion, every single church in America would have to come up with an additional $50,000 simply to feed those in need. For many cash-strapped churches, this is an impossible task.
What’s more, the Romney/Ryan budget would likely overburden soup kitchens and food programs by cutting welfare, food stamps and agriculture subsidies by two trillion dollars over the next ten years. These cuts would leave millions of Americans – especially those most in need of assistance – without the means to feed and clothe themselves, and already-overburdened faith-based charities unable to provide for them.
So if congregations and charities can’t provide the care required and Ryan’s government refuses to help, who exactly is the “strong” tasked with stepping in for the “weak”? Ryan isn’t saying. Ryan and other conservative commentators like Gov. Mike Huckabee talk a lot about how they believe faith is under attack in America. But if Ryan truly believes a society is best judged by “how it treats those who cannot defend or care for themselves,” then perhaps he should take a second look at how his own policy proposals negatively affect those doing the hard work of caring for the poor — churches and faith-based charities.
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/08/31/784691/how-romneyryan-would-undermine-churches-and-faith-based-charities/
