Diamond-Cut Life

I seldom write about presidential candidates, but today I just have to.  “It’s an excellent piece of work” is what leading Republican candidate Mitt Romney has said of a proposed national budget that gives substantial tax cuts to the rich as it slashes health care and food stamps for tens of millions of low income people. (See this New York Times piece.)

Whether from a Christian perspective or any reasonably humane perspective, this national budget, which the House has approved but the Senate has not yet considered, is morally wrong because it increases human suffering – by choice.  Some suffering, like that caused by tsunamis and tornadoes, we can’t prevent. Other suffering, like hunger and lack of medical care in a nation awash in food, nurses and doctors, is completely preventable.

Mitt Romney is a Christian, specifically a Mormon. He should know that the Bible makes more than 300 references to the poor, and God’s concern for them. Jesus unequivocally preached compassion for the poor. Jesus never once said to make the rich yet wealthier. But somehow,  Christianity in the U.S. has been co-opted to mean triumphalism, and conservatism, and the championing of business interests. Rick Santorum, another avowed Christian and the other main candidate still in the Republican primary race, actually said the cuts into health care and food assistance for the poor didn’t go far enough. This is not the Christianity that Christ taught.  God’s Politics by Jim Wallis eloquently addresses this subject.

God willing, the Senate will not join the House in passing this budget. How do I think our national budget should be balanced? By taxing the rich more substantially. While it would inconvenience them, it would produce no suffering. Rather, it would relieve vast amounts of suffering caused by lack of medical care and sufficient food — in a nation that actually has more than enough to go around.

Time to post this and hike the mile on over to worship at Lincoln Street Church. My backpack is filled with peanut butter, raisins, tuna and tangerines for the Backpack Project. Caitlin Morrison, a teenager at Lincoln Street, organized the Backpack Project so that on Friday afternoons, low-income children who rely on school-sponsored breakfasts and lunches can take food home to see them through the weekend.

Our nation needs more Caitlin Morrisons. It also needs presidential candidates  who reduce human suffering instead of increasing it.   Especially if they call themselves Christians.

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