values and political policy clearly come together, it wouldn’t be abortion, homosexuality, education, ecology, or employment, it would be where we stand in helping the poor and oppressed. We as Christians are called upon to allow the Light of Christ to shine on the brokenness that is at the core of the human condition, individually and socially, and to be part of God’s redemptive work on earth. This is not just an individual command, but a command to nations.
In Isaiah, God scolds the leaders of nations, “Shame on you … you who make unjust laws and publish burdensome decrees, depriving the poor of justice, robbing the weakest of my people of their rights, despoiling the widow and plundering the orphan.”1 God promised that he would bring justice to them and that He would crush their oppressors.2
In the Psalms, we are warned not to lose our good sense in prosperity, and are warned of the danger of becoming over-awed with the rich and those who live in great splendor.3 When over-awed, we give preferential treatment to the wealthy. It is possible that the great support for Donald Trump comes because many are agog at his wealth. They wish they, too, had billions to spend on houses and casinos, and to self-fund whatever it was they wished to do.
In Amos, God condemns the rich: “for crime after crime of Israel, I will grant them no reprieve because they sell the innocent for silver and the destitute for a pair of shoes. They grind the heads of the poor into the earth and thrust the humble out of their way.”4
The Bible tells us God is a stronghold for the oppressed, and He will not desert them. He listens to the laments of the brokenhearted. He fills the starving, and rescues those in chains and misery from hard labor. He gives the hungry a home and blesses them with a bountiful harvest. God provides a refuge for the weak and seeks justice for the poor.5
The Kings and Judges of the Hebrew Scriptures were commanded to find ways to equalize that which was unequal. They had authority over the nation, and woe to them if they only honored the rich! The poor were given the right to glean the edges of the fields for food, so they would not starve in a land of plenty. A tithe was to be collected every third year for them. The rich were not to make a profit from the poor, nor cheat them of interest on a loan, nor treat them as slaves. There were special compensations for the poor so they would not appear before God empty-handed. In the year of Jubilee, the poor could return and claim their ancestral lands; the injustices of the past would be ended and they could start anew.6
Protestant theologian Karl Barth, in his Church Dogmatics, says the Christian community “explicitly accepts solidarity with the least of little ones … with those who are in obscurity and are not seen, with those who are pushed to the margin and perhaps the very outer margin of the life of human society, with fellow-creatures who temporarily at least, and perhaps permanently, are useless and insignificant and perhaps even burdensome and destructive … these men are recognized to be brothers of Jesus Christ … and therefore the community confesses Jesus Christ Himself as finally the hungry, thirsty, naked, homeless, sick, imprisoned man.…”7 As we do unto the least of these, we also do unto Christ.
Can We Agree on Helping the Poor?
When setting out to write this book, I had presumed that this was one issue where we could find agreement among Christians. I was wrong. Although there are more than 2,000 verses in the Bible about the need for individuals and nations to help the poor and the oppressed, there is a powerful group of conservative Republican Christians that does not believe the Bible on this issue. They believe individuals and churches are asked to help the poor, if they so desire, but not nations. They believe charitable giving should only come from those who wish to give.
I must admit I was shocked to learn this. After all, this idea is coming from conservatives and fundamentalists who say they take the Bible literally. I started to question several of my colleagues who were conservative Republican Christians about this issue in order to understand it more clearly. I promised not to use their names in this book if they would clarify this issue for me.
I was told, by one conservative Christian, “We are called to help, not to force others to help or to use our mob power to steal from those who do not want to help.” As a result of this theology, government programs are cut by Republicans whenever possible. Health care for the poor is de-funded. Getting an education or getting medicine or being able to buy or rent a house becomes costlier because the government won’t help. Another Republican Christian saw the liberal Democrats as giving far too many handouts, and said the government shouldn’t be in that business, even though the Bible tells us that leaders and rulers and nations have an obligation to give justice and to remove oppressive burdens. In his view, conservatives believe that “the church, not the government, should be involved with helping and caring for the poor.”
I e-mailed him back, asking who the church is most apt to help. Certainly they are most apt to help fellow Christians. Where does that leave the immigrant who has just received citizenship but has few resources? Or the Muslim, who lives in a poor community? What about the workers who have been hurt by financial scandals when the CEOs made millions of dollars? What about the drastic needs that come from communities hit by a hurricane and left with billions of dollars in damage? Or from the tsunami that has washed away hundreds of thousands of people and hundreds of communities, leaving needs far beyond what one church, or two or three, or even one denomination, can handle?
I asked, “How much money do most churches have? Do they have enough to rebuild homes, pay for job training, provide food and medicine and doctor appointments for the family in need? Is there any church, even the most wealthy, that can afford what is needed as a result of a catastrophe or difficult, unbearable situations?”
One of the Christians said we should not be forced to give money to causes that we don’t believe in. He is also a pacifist, so he said he didn’t want to fund war. I agree. I don’t either. But people who adhere to this reasoning might think, “I shouldn’t have my tax dollars go to funding education, because I don’t have any children and I’m finished with my own schooling.” Others might think, “I shouldn’t have to fund Medicare because I won’t have to worry about my retirement for a few more years, and Mom and Dad are dead.” Perhaps they believe, “I shouldn’t have to fund the roads in Iowa, because I haven’t driven on them for many years.” When did we become so selfish we forgot about the common good? If we followed this policy, it would divide the nation into prideful interest groups with only their own selfish desires at heart.
Some Christians don’t see the necessity of helping the poor because they believe that they must focus on their individual relationship with Christ. After hearing this idea a number of times, I asked one of my Republican Christian friends, who is a Baptist, if she agreed with this. She said she did not. She answered, “There are plenty of lost, lonely, and deserted people within our borders to keep both church and state busy, so I fear that the statement that churches should fix the problem is a veiled form of greed. I don’t see that the churches are responding, and therefore our disenfranchised people will be out in the cold, literally, which is truly heartless.”
She continued, “Of course, churches should be stepping up and out for our own faith, but that does not mean we should eliminate government assistance. I don’t see how anyone in their right mind can think that churches can replace Medicaid, or take care of all our health needs, or education and job improvement programs. There is a huge difference between soup kitchens and shelters and the long-term needs of people with mental and physical disabilities.” This friend had been a Republican. She changed her to the Democratic Party in 2008 partly because of the Republican stance on these issues (and partly because of the first edition of this book).
Another friend reflected, “I don’t see any Republican governors refusing assistance when their state is in trouble.” New Orleans and New Jersey received millions in assistance after hurricanes. California received help after their forest fires. Ebola and Zika outbreaks were handled quickly with government assistance to alert the public and to contain the diseases. An exception
