To the Editor of Christianity Today,

I read your piece Budget Battle: ³Christian leaders debate
government's responsibility for the poor² and while I want to
congratulate these various religious leaders for speaking out on
behalf of the poor, I also want to ask them: Just where was their
outrage when this president lied about the facts that led us into
invading Iraq? Many of these religious leaders helped Bush into
office thinking that he was one of their own, but his record speaks
the opposite. Funding this heinous war is the very reason why
many of these cuts are being made. I have seen the images that
have come out of Iraq of dead and injured children and I do scream
out to God: Why have you let this man Bush do this to innocent
little children? Where was their outrage when two foreign
presidents wanted to aid our Katrina victims? Their names are
President Hugo Chavez and President Fidel Castro. Bush said ³NO²
to this vital and humanitarian aid package. When Tom Colburn
stated: ³If the churches had done their job and followed Jesus'
teachings," and then went onto state: "the government wouldn't
have started all these programs and created all these problems."
What he fails to realize is that the hand of God works not only
within the churches, He works through all of us and that includes
elected officials. You do not throw the baby out with the bath
water by cutting funding; you fix the problem, while still
delivering compassionate aid to the poor. Not everyone can pull
themselves up by their boot straps.

The New York Times is now reporting: ³New projections, buried in
the Interior Department's just-published budget plan, anticipate
that the government will let companies pump about $65 billion
worth of oil and natural gas from federal territory over the next
five years without paying any royalties to the government.²
These moneys can go a long way into helping the poor of this
country, yet this GOP led government through actions such as this
has once again favored the rich over the poor.

I can cite chapter and verse as to how this GOP led government and
Bush himself are turning their backs on Christıs teachings, but
that would take up a whole column. But, it angers me to know
that a seat once held by a true compassionate leader for the poor
whose name was Senator Paul Wellstone is now held by
Sen. Coleman who knows nothing of Christıs teachings if he can
vote for these cuts. Senator Wellstone once said: ³The people of this
country, not the special interest big money, should be the source of
all political power.² We need more Wellstonesı leading this
country.

Sincerely,

Mary MacElveen

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/107/12.0.html






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