Our Moral Audit of the Budget
Sojomail - March 5, 2009
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No one person will succeed him. You'll see a broader group of leaders with their own constituencies, but not a narrow band. ... [But] anyone who thinks evangelicals are going away as a social force is smoking something illegal. - Richard Land, President of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, when asked about who will succeed James Dobson as the leader of the Religious Right. Dobson announced his resignation as board chair of Focus on the Family last week. (Source: The Washington Times) + Sign up to receive "Verse and Voice" - our daily quote and Bible verse e-mail
Our Moral Audit of the Budget
The values of the American people should also be applied to the budget, e.g. fairness (everyone paying their fair share); opportunity for all Americans; fiscal, personal, and social responsibility; balancing important and different priorities; defining security more broadly than just military considerations, as it is related to economic and family security too; compassion and protection for the vulnerable; building community; and upholding the common good. That’s a principle that has been forgotten in the past years. We have trusted in “the invisible hand” of the market to make everything turn out all right, but things too often haven’t turned out all right. The invisible hand let go of some things, like the common good. The idea that policies which benefit the wealthiest will eventually benefit everyone has proven false. The president’s budget is a step toward restoring the value of the common good to our policy. It is a step to rebalance our priorities, protect the vulnerable, and strengthen the middle. It contains major investments in the president’s three priorities: significantly expanding health care coverage, focusing on climate change reduction and developing renewable energy, and investing in education -- early childhood programs, strengthening and reforming public schools, expanded opportunities for college -- all of which will benefit low-income people. There are also specific changes in important areas such as tax policy, food and nutrition programs, housing, needed aid to veterans, prisoner re-entry, global food security, and increased foreign aid for combating pandemic disease. It’s a budget aimed at redressing the imbalances. The growing inequality in America over decades is a sin of biblical proportions, and it’s time to bring our principles of social justice to bear. As columnist E.J. Dionne wrote,
It is that question that should guide our moral audit of the budget. The fundamental moral question in the upcoming budget debate is whether to begin to reverse the rapid and massive increase in American inequality which has grown over the past thirty years -- and has dramatically increased during the past eight. I believe it is time to stop helping the undeserving rich, under the now demonstrably false assertion that this will then benefit the rest of us. When the top 1 percent of the country now get 20 percent of its income, control 33 percent of its wealth, and pay a smaller percentage of their income in taxes than their receptionists do (as Warren Buffet has pointed out)—something has gone terribly wrong in America. The new Obama budget is the first and dramatic step to fix all that, and turn the nation in a different direction. The new budget proposed by the White House is a dramatic step in the direction of the common good, with strong support for the middle of America, real help for the poorest among us, and the proposition that the wealthiest pay their fare share. And my prediction is that many in the faith community, especially those on the front lines of serving the poor, will rally around the principles and priorities of this budget, bringing their energy and advocacy to bear on the debate that now lies ahead. Because this will not just be a policy debate, but also a moral one; the prayers of the faithful -- along with their watchful eyes, willing hands, and ready feet -- will surround the congressional budget process over the next few months. + Click to share to this article + Click to respond to this article on the God's Politics Blog
Audio: Jesus People Against Pollution In March 1977, an explosion destroyed a chemical factory and released a toxin-laden cloud in the small town of Columbia, Mississippi. In the aftermath, thousands of drums of chemical waste—which would later be found to contain more toxins, including the ingredients for Agent Orange—were buried on the factory site and at local landfills. Leaking into the groundwater, the chemicals began to cause cancer, miscarriages, and other diseases in the poor, largely African-American community nearby. Enter Charlotte Keys, an evangelist, Columbia native, and founder of Jesus People Against Pollution, a group dedicated to environmental justice for the people of Columbia. She talked with Sojourners assistant editor Elizabeth Palmberg about her town’s journey, the larger environmental movement, and how she keeps the faith when times are tough.
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ADVERTISERS         Evangelical Environmental Network seeks new President who will lead EEN and implement strategic plan, focused on climate change policy and creation care as part of Christian discipleship. For more information see www.calvin.edu/~drc5/EEN. Are you Hungry for Justice? Start the discussion and take it to a deeper level in your church with Sojourners’ best-selling resource, Hungry for Justice. This six-week guide explores the Bible’s call to social justice and service to the poor. Be a part of the movement to make poverty history with Sojourners. Don’t miss your chance to act. Come to Sojourners’ 2009 Mobilization to End Poverty. Learn more. The Poverty and Justice Bible: Co-produced by the Bible Society and World Vision, it comes with a study guide that challenges you to discover, dream, and do things to help make poverty history. Check it out. Get a faithful perspective on the Economic Crisis with Sojourners’ new Discussion Guide - Faith and Finances: Christians and the Economic Crisis. Get your four-part, downloadable resource today. Common good and economic justice? What can we learn from the Bible about the proper role of government? Explore these ideals with Sojourners’ four-part study guide, Christians and the Role of Government. Now available for download. Learn more.
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