December 28, 2005

VALLEY FORGE, PA – 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." [See Washington Post , December 14, 2005 article by Jonathan Weisman and Alan Cooperman; New York Times, June 2005 article by David C. Johnston]

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.

This statemes was passed by the Ministers Council Executive Committee on 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.

American Baptist Churches USA