Faith & the Common Good June 14, 2011

Faith & the Common Good is a new three-days-a-week feature of The Progressive Christian to keep readers informed of ways that beliefs are influencing public issues. Sources include Reuters, Faith in Public Life, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, the Pew Forum on the People & the Press, USA Today, the New York Times, Yahoo!, Google News and other online news outlets. Readers may contribute to Daily Dish by sending items of interest to the Editor. Please include the item's headline, author and website.

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Starving the poor to balance the budget is wrong

By Stephen F. Schneck
The Hill, Opinion, June 13, 2011

… A budget that takes food from the poor, breaks our promise to the elderly and undermines pro-life values by cutting life-saving programs that help pregnant women, new mothers and children is immoral. Those who defended Rep. [John] Boehner and the GOP budget argue that private charities or state governments can more efficiently help low-income Americans. But I've yet to see a convincing argument for how state and local responses could make up for a fundamental dismantling of our nation's social safety net.

…At a time when struggling Americans need policies that serve the common good, political leaders are making choices that reflect grossly distorted values.

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National conversation needed on how best to help the poor

By Galen Carey
(Tacoma, WA) News-Tribune, Opinion, June 10, 2011

No one wants to harm poor people, and no one believes wasting money on ineffective assistance is a good idea.

But the alleged shortcomings of our social safety net are vastly exaggerated. In 1959, nearly one in four Americans (22.4 percent) lived in poverty. Today, despite our economic woes, the poverty rate is 14.3 percent. A more accurate measure of poverty, taking into account the value of food assistance and the earned income tax credit, would be 12.5 percent.

The poverty rate is bad enough, but without the social safety net, more than twice as many people would fall into poverty.

The Circle of Protection (www.circleofprotection.us) is necessary, because neither party has yet pledged to protect the poor as we balance our budget.

Programs for the poor make up only about one-fifth of the federal budget. Yet rather than protecting poor and hungry people, the House of Representatives passed a budget that actually disproportionately burdens them.

Nearly two-thirds of the proposed spending cuts would come from food, medical and other assistance that helps low-income Americans. The Senate has not even proposed a budget. The White House has talked repeatedly about helping the middle class, and sometimes the elderly, but is silent on aid to the poor.

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Column: The sharia myth sweeps America

By Amy Sullivan
USA Today, June 12, 2011

If you are not vitally concerned about the possibility of radical Muslims infiltrating the U.S. government and establishing a Taliban-style theocracy, then you are not a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination. In addition to talking about tax policy and Afghanistan, Republican candidates have also felt the need to speak out against the menace of "sharia."

… More than a specific set of laws, sharia is a process through which Muslim scholars and jurists determine God's will and moral guidance as they apply to every aspect of a Muslim's life. They study the Quran, as well as the conduct and sayings of the Prophet Mohammed, and sometimes try to arrive at consensus about Islamic law. But different jurists can arrive at very different interpretations of sharia, and it has changed over the centuries.

…Sharia is sometimes consulted in civil cases with Muslim litigants who may request a Muslim arbitrator. These may involve issues of marriage contracts or commercial agreements, or probating an Islamic will. They are no different than the practice of judges allowing orthodox Jews to resolve some matters in Jewish courts, also known as beth din.

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Alabama's Anti-Immigration Law Concerns Faith Leaders

By Ethics Daily, June 13, 2011

Faith leaders around the country are speaking up about Alabama's crackdown on undocumented immigrants. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley signed into law last week the nation's toughest anti-immigration law, surpassing Arizona's, and some religious leaders are voicing concern.

The bishop of the Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America wrote Alabama's governor a letter of deep concern. Lutheran Bishop H. Julian Gordy wrote Bentley, "Because the Church values family unity, justice, equity, compassion and the humane treatment of all people, I am deeply concerned about the immigration legislation that you signed into law."

He said making local police serve as immigration officers would divert them from pursuing criminals. Gordy also said it would undermine public trust in law enforcement and make immigrants fearful of reporting crimes.

"I am also extremely troubled by the provision which would require public schools to determine immigration status of students and their parents," wrote Gordy. "This provision would scare kids away from attending school and seems particularly mean-spirited."

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All Are God's Children: On Including Gays and Lesbians in the Church and Society

By Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Huffington Post, June 13, 2011

A student once asked me, If I could have one wish granted to reverse an injustice, what would it be? I had to ask for two. One is for world leaders to forgive the debts of developing nations which hold them in such thrall. The other is for the world to end the persecution of people because of their sexual orientation, which is every bit as unjust as that crime against humanity, apartheid.

This is a matter of ordinary justice. We struggled against apartheid in South Africa, supported by people the world over, because black people were being blamed and made to suffer for something we could do nothing about -- our very skin. It is the same with sexual orientation. It is a given. I could not have fought against the discrimination of apartheid and not also fight against the discrimination that homosexuals endure, even in our churches and faith groups.

I am proud that in South Africa, when we won the chance to build our own new constitution, the human rights of all have been explicitly enshrined in our laws. My hope is that one day this will be the case all over the world, and that all will have equal rights. For me this struggle is a seamless robe. Opposing apartheid was a matter of justice. Opposing discrimination against women is a matter of justice. Opposing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a matter of justice.

It is also a matter of love. Every human being is precious. We are all -- all of us -- part of God's family. We all must be allowed to love each other with honor. Yet all over the world, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are persecuted. We treat them as pariahs and push them outside our communities. We make them doubt that they too are children of God. This must be nearly the ultimate blasphemy. We blame them for what they are.

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Ten Years of Changing Attitudes on Gay Marriage

Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, June 9, 2011

A new slideshow series of graphics by the Pew Forum shows how public opinion toward gay marriage has changed over the last decade, according to Pew Research Center polls. See how much opinion varies among different generations, religious groups and political parties.

Today, the American population is about evenly split in its approval of gay marriage. This is due in part to generational change. Younger generations express higher levels of support for same-sex marriage. In 2011 Pew polling, Millennials are twice as likely as the Silent Generation to support same-sex marriage.