Christians 101

Evangelicals for Social Action

Evangelicals for Social Action (ESA) has been around for over 30 years, starting off with the Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern, which confessed a failure to confront injustice, racism and discrimination against women, while pledging to do better. Later, they opposed the Reagan Administration’s funding of the contras against the Sandinista government, while also opposing the way in which the Sandinistas were restricting freedom. Over the years they have worked on nuclear disarmament, environmental issues, and, yes, pro-life causes. ESA cites the following as their guiding principles:

First that biblical faith demands a special concern for the poor; second that faithful Christians must combine evangelism and social action; and third that since the biblical God seems to care about the family and the poor, the sanctity of human life and racial justice, therefore a biblically faithful political engagement must be pro-family and pro-poor, pro-life and pro-racial justice.

In January of last year ESA sponsored a letter to President Bush concerning the need to follow the Biblical mandate to feed the hungry and take care of the poor. The letter was signed by a couple of hundred individuals, including the President of the Council for Christian Colleges, the Director of Hispanic Ministries at the Church of God, the presidents of numerous Christian colleges, the President of the Evangelical Free Church of America, the President of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, and numerous pastors of evangelical churches.

Here is that letter in full.

Dear Mr. President:

We write as evangelical leaders to urge a strengthened, expanded emphasis on overcoming hunger and poverty both here and abroad in the next four years. Precisely the commitment to moral values (including the sanctity of human life) that shapes all our political activity compels us to insist that as a nation we must do more to end starvation and hunger and strengthen the capacity of poor people to create wealth and care for their families.

We are grateful for your faith-based initiative and the way this approach is strengthening the ability of faith-based organizations to bring their unique gifts and passion to the task of overcoming social brokenness and poverty. We are also grateful for the way your administration has expanded the American contribution to economic development and the battle against AIDS in Africa and other developing countries through the Millennium Challenge Account and the AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Initiative. Thank you also for your moral leadership in the fight against human trafficking, your commitment to rebuild the U.S. refugee program, and your sustained efforts to end decades of war in Sudan.

Tragically, however, both at home and abroad, the number of people in poverty remains unacceptably high.

In 2000, virtually every nation on the planet approved the Millennium Development Goals that included a commitment to halve global poverty by 2015. But adequate funds to meet these goals are not being given, and the U.S. ranks absolutely last (as a percentage of GNP) among all developed nations in its governmental assistance to overcome global poverty. Our nation has fallen far short of the increases in health and development assistance that you proposed. The richest nation in history can and must grasp the opportunity to lead. Poverty in our own nation has increased in the last several years and millions more working poor lack health insurance.

We agree with you that there is a poverty of the soul and a poverty of the wallet and that government should not try to solve the first. We pledge to you to strengthen the armies of compassion in order to do more through our faith-based organizations to overcome the poverty of the soul. But our faith-based social service agencies cannot by themselves solve the problem of poverty of the wallet. As you have often said, government can and should help solve this problem. Tragically, millions of Americans today work full time and still fall below the poverty level. The moral values that shape our lives tell us this is wrong. We believe our rich nation should agree that everyone who works full time responsibly will be able to earn enough to rise above the poverty level and enjoy health insurance.

We know there will be powerful pressures, from some places, as you and the Congress work to reduce deficit spending, to cut even effective programs for poor people. We pray that you will not allow this to happen. We pray that God will give you the strength to act like the righteous king in Ps. 72:12-13 and “deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help, take pity on the weak and the needy, and save the needy from death.” We call on you, Mr. President, to declare, in your Inaugural or State of the Union address, that it is the policy of your administration to make the necessary improvements in the next four years so that all Americans who work full time responsibly will be able to escape poverty and enjoy health insurance.

This policy would strengthen the family, discourage divorce, reduce out-of-wedlock births and strengthen moral values in our nation. If the Bible teaches us anything clearly on this issue, it is, as the recent declaration of the National Association of Evangelicals said, that “God measures societies by how they treat the people at the bottom.” A dramatic reduction in poverty, both here and abroad, would honor our Lord who called us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. It would also be a wonderful legacy for you to leave with the American people and indeed the world. Such an outcome is clearly within the reach of the richest nation in history. The moral values you share with us demand no less. We request the opportunity to meet with you and your administration to discuss ways that we can help you strengthen your administration’s efforts to overcome hunger and poverty.

posted by Elizabeth @ 10:54 AM