Posted on 04/29/2005 7:27:40 AM PDT by The Ox
'Congress should reject this budget,' mainline leaders say
ENS 042805-1 Thursday, April 28, 2005 [Episcopal News Service] In response to the FY 2006 Budget Conference Report to be considered by Congress and as a follow-up to a March 8, 2005 press conference calling the President's FY '06 Budget "unjust," five mainline denominational leaders issued the following statement:
On March 8 we, as leaders of the Episcopal Church USA, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, and United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society, issued a joint statement questioning the priorities of President Bush's 2006 Federal Budget. We remembered the Gospel story of Lazarus and the rich man* and noted that the 2006 budget had much for the rich man but little for Lazarus. It was our hope that Congress would take action on behalf of "Lazarus." Sadly, all indications are that has not been the case. Therefore, today we call upon Congress to reject this budget and go back to the drawing board.
We believe our federal budget is a moral document and should reflect our historic national commitment for those in our own country who suffer from hunger, lack of education, jobs, housing, and medical care, as well as concern for our global community. There are good programs that can help solve all of these problems. We know -- we have seen them at work and we our doing our part with our own programs. But we cannot do it alone. Government must be a partner in providing opportunities for our fellow women and men to pursue their God-given gifts. We commend those who attempted to improve the FY '06 budget by adding funds for Medicaid, education, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and international family planning. We regret that the speed with which this document is being brought to the floor does not allow time for the careful examination such a document requires.
As we view the FY '06 Federal Budget through our lens of faith this budget, on balance, continues to ask our nation's working poor to pay the cost of a prosperity in which they may never share. We believe this budget remains unjust. It does not adequately address the more than 36 million Americans living below the poverty line, 45 million without health insurance, or the 13 million hungry children. Worldwide, it neither provides sufficient development assistance nor adequately addresses the global AIDS pandemic. Therefore, we ask Congress to reject this budget and begin anew.
We conclude today, as we did March 8, by asking that together we "pledge ourselves to creating a nation in which economic policies are infused with the spirit of the man who began his public ministry almost 2,000 years ago by proclaiming that God had anointed him 'to bring good news to the poor.' "
Signed by:
The Most Reverend Frank T. Griswold Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, USA
The Right Reverend Mark Hanson Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American
The Reverend Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.)
The Reverend John H. Thomas General Minister and President, United Church of Christ
Mr. James Winkler General Secretary, General Board of Church and Society, United Methodist Church
* There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames."
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
These Churches are just prepping up for their biggest religious holiday May 1.
When did the Methodists become such Leftists? Has this been going on a while? Guess I missed this.
Where do the Democrats come up with these weird "religions"?
... therefore, based on the principle of "Separation of Church and State" (which the ACLU assures me is in the Constitution), all social programs should be suspended. We can't have these "Christians" forcing their morality on us.
BREAKING! BREAKING!
National Buggy Whip Manufacturer's Association condemns Bush's energy proposals as not harsh enough on cars.
National Horse Oats Consortium says Bush proposal favors engines over equines....
DETAILS TO FOLLOW
Mainline Churches = Mainstream Media (dying, irrelevant and clueless)
The churches of the NCC (National Council of Churches) a pro-Castro communist front group.
"...the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church USA responsible for 64 percent of NCC revenues."
http://www.discoverthenetwork.com/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6916
This is nonsense.
Your comment got me to thinking. Shouldn't the ACLU come out against this lobbying by the churches under their "Separation of Church and State" beliefs? If not, it occurs to me that the ACLU are a bunch of lying hypocrits.
Then again, with the lefties, free speech is accorded to anyone and any group, so long as they agree with their leftist doctrine...
The rest of the story, according to "mainline" theologians:
"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. Verily, in life, you should have instituted a progressive tax structure that pumped untold billions into bloated and ineffective government agencies, while propping up antiquated unions. You should have forced taxpayers to fund animal rights organizations to properly care for strays, so that dogs could not come and lick poor Lazarus. You should have used the public weal to build hospitals to which Lazarus could have come for free, so that he would not starve on the street, but could have been starved with grace and dignity by judicial fiat, as God intended. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us. Just as there are, indeed, two Americas, there is a Blue State/Red State divide in the afterlife.'
"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them. Besides, the death tax has eaten up every cent of the estate you meant to leave for your father and brothers, and the lawyers of the family of Lazarus has sued them for wrongful death, since he died at your gate. At this very hour, they lie in rags, beset by sores and licked by dogs, at the gates of the house that was once yours, which I understand the Kennedys have acquired for a Middle Eastern compound. It serves your father right for contributing to overpopulation by having so many children.'
" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. However, I will start a publicly-funded campaign of warning labels and public service announcements on the evils of wealth. In that way, our friends in advertising agencies and regulatory agencies can increase their coffers, although it will do little good in saving your brothers from the flames. For that, we'll just tax the Hell out of them.' "
Would it have been OK if the the rich man had stolen money from all the people to give to Lazarus? Or is the point that the Rich man, or in this case these "mainline" churches, is supposed to help Lazarus himself/themselves?
The Federal Government is supposed to be constrained to the powers granted in the Constitution. There's nothing in there about helping Lazarus, or any others that cannot help themselves. There is a bunch about raising armies and a Navy, promoting (regulating meant to make to function properly) commerce, issue money and a very few other things.
The states are not so limited of course. Since George W. Bush doesn't control them, bashing them is no fun, is it?
They need to get back and care for its members and leave the governing to our respresentatives!
The Right Reverend Mark Hanson Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American
The Reverend Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.)
The Reverend John H. Thomas General Minister and President, United Church of Christ
Mr. James Winkler General Secretary, General Board of Church and Society, United Methodist Church
APOSTATE LIBERAL BUSH BASHERS
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