With more than 46 million American living in poverty, Christian leaders from across the political spectrum ask both President Obama and Governor Romney about their positions on poverty and protecting the most vulnerable in our difficult economic time.
While I have never been able to embed a video into a post – I strongly urge EVERYONE to take a look at Sojourner’s link with the videos.
Now I have posted on the Circle of Protection before, but if you’ve not yet heard of this wonderful group – here’s today’s info/press release:
Press Release:
Washington, DC, Sept. 12, 2012
Presidential Candidates Tell Christian Leaders How They Will Address Record Poverty Numbers
As the U.S. Census Bureau releases record-breaking poverty figures, faith leaders from the Circle of Protection will release exclusive videos from President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney stating their positions on hunger and poverty.
“As Christian leaders, we believe that this presidential campaign should include a clear focus on what each candidate proposes to do to provide help and opportunity for hungry and poor people in the United States and around the world. We are grateful that the candidates have produced these videos that outline their positions on this crucial issue,” the Christian leaders wrote in a letter requesting the videos.
The Circle of Protection leaders represent a wide array of Christian churches throughout the country. The group emphasizes that God holds nations accountable for how they treat those Jesus called “the least of these” (Matthew 25:45).
Leaders who will speak at the press conference includes: Bishop Stephen Blaire (chair, committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, US Conference of Catholic Bishops), Rev. Michael Livingston (former president, National Council of Churches), Dr. Barbara Williams Skinner (co-facilitator, National African-American Clergy Network), Rev. David Beckmann (president, Bread for the World), Rev. Jim Wallis (president, Sojourners), Rev. Gabriel Salguero (president, National Latino Evangelical Coalition) and Galen Carey (vice-president, National Association of Evangelicals).
Speakers discussed the latest poverty figures, which show 15 percent of Americans live in poverty including one in five children.
Though we may disagree on other issues, we are united in our belief that God is especially concerned with the plight of poor and vulnerable people. Our churches are deeply involved in serving people in need,” the leaders wrote in their letter to the two presidential candidates.”
For more than a year, leaders of various Christian denominations and agencies have come together to advocate for a “Circle of Protection” around funding for programs that are vital to vulnerable people in the United States and around the world.
The Circle of Protection is composed of more than 65 heads of denominations, relief and development agencies, and other Christian organizations.
Thanks you for posting this, it is a most important message. As someone who works in a parish office, I see people who need food help, rent help, utilities help and more, every single day. If someone wants to revisit how they feel about these things in regard to their life of faith, please join me for a week or two.
The reality is that we can address poverty, but no one has ever “solved” poverty and I doubt that we ever will. What I truly believe that we need to focus on is how we treat our brothers and sisters. It is not enough just to give to them, but so much more.
And for what it is worth, I am not always a little sunbeam for Jesus when I sit at that desk. I often groan inwardly when a ”regular” calls or comes by, I feel anger and revulsion at other times, but it can’t just end there.
In politics talk is so cheap. It is remarkably easy to write off and disdain those who appear to be a drain on the system, whatever that means. I hope that we simply find ways to be human to one another. Oh that sounds a little lofty, doesn’t it? Yet it is what we are called to do. This is such a tough political sell as a result. God help us all.