Jim Wallis and Michael Wear: Is Gov't Aid Christian Charity?

Having grown up 20 miles from Gary, having been through the projects of Chicago, and having ministered to the homeless and the poor in the Twin Cities, Waseca, Rochester, Dallas, Phoenix, and Compton, the second question to be asked is how all that government help is working out for those who are “helped.” Issue #1 is certainly that taxing one’s neighbors hardly qualifies as Christian help for the poor, but issue #2 is just as important; how’s it workin’ out for ya?

And the answer to that is simple; the rough neighborhoods of Detroit, Dallas, Gary, Compton, Rochester, Phoenix, and elsewhere used to be thriving working class neighborhoods—and one place where I spent a week used to be (Swiss Avenue in Dallas) a thriving upper class neighborhood. Places where women used to be able to walk at night without fear are now war zones.

So Wallis and Wear need to be challenged not only on the morality of taking from one’s neighbors to help the poor, but also on the reality that so much “help” for the poor has been objectively harmful to them.

I agree with the article. Usually, progressive evangelicals and mainliners have put their faith in Government as the main catalyst for reducing poverty, which means more progressive taxation to fund it. And of course, they abuse normal hermeneutical principles to support their liberal political views. The question among both conservatives and liberals in our country is not so much if we should help the poor, but rather how we go about helping the poor. Conservatives see private business and enterprise and are more partial to faith-based organizations to expand the social net as the key, while liberal/progressives see progressive government social policies and management of the economy as the key.