Obeying a Higher Law

Tis the season, as we all know, and I hope that the country is paying attention to what is happening in Congress right now. I refer to the budget bill controversy, although I know most Americans are probably thinking more about stringing up those icicle lights and passing along the fruitcake than the fact that the richest slice of our population is getting yet more tax cuts for Christmas, and the poorest chunk is getting a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. To wit, a House-passed 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, while at the same time including an extension of cuts in the tax rate on dividends and capital gains. The Senate version will only cut $35 billion.

There are those who feel that this is a moral issue, and are taking action to back up their beliefs. Yesterday in Washington there was a protest at the Cannon House Office Building by leaders and members of five Christian denominations: the United Methodist Church, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church USA and United Church of Christ, calling the budget an immoral bill and chanting this quote from the prophet Isaiah: "Woe to you legislators of infamous laws . . . who refuse justice to the unfortunate, who cheat the poor among my people of their rights, who make widows their prey and rob the orphan."


The Washington Post yesterday had a pre-protest article, A Religious Protest Largely From the Left. Conservative Christians Say Fighting Cuts in Poverty Programs Is Not a Priority, which is notable for the quotes included from the likes of Tony Perkins, Janice Crouse and James Dobson. Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners (a liberal Christian journal), one of the major organizers of the protest, extends his worst insult to these "Christians" - he calls them "unbiblical."

So, in fact over one hundred protesters were arrested yesterday in the extreme, stony cold on the steps of the Cannon Building. More Than 100 Arrested in Capitol Protest, many of them national faith leaders, clergy, and faith-based providers of services to the poor, all of them Christians testifying to their beliefs. Here is Sojourners' story on the event, with lots of pictures: Civil Disobedience for a Moral Budget. The Progress Report, from American Progress Action Fund, leads with a story about this budget protest today: The Real Christmas Scandal. When you finish that story, scroll on down to the next one, which is thematically connected: Homeless for the Holidays.

If there were ever a threat to my current agnosticism it would be through such organizations as these: Call to Renewal , a national network of churches, faith-based organizations,and individuals working to overcome poverty in America, and Sojourners, a Christian ministry whose mission is to proclaim and practice the biblical call to integrate spiritual renewal and social justice. It gladdens my heart to know that Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, and Family Research Council are not the only Christian voices being raised in this country. However, at least for now, I'll stay with my existentialist belief that helping each other make it through this life is the only reason that we're here. Helping the poor, the sick, the homeless is not just a Christian prerogative. It's a human one.

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