May 14, 2015

On Poverty, President Shows Poor Judgment

These days, it wouldn’t be a presidential appearance without some gratuitous Christian-bashing. And at [Tuesday’s] roundtable on poverty, President Obama didn’t disappoint. During the panel discussion at Georgetown University, President Obama took the common goal of helping the poor and used it to drive an even deeper wedge between his administration and people of faith. In between swipes at Fox News, the President scolded the church for being too preoccupied with the culture war to help the needy. “I think it would be powerful for our faith-based organizations to speak out on this in a more forceful fashion. This may sound self-interested because there have been — these are areas where I agree with the evangelical community and faith-based groups, and then there are issues where we have had disagreements around reproductive issues, or same-sex marriage, or what have you. And so maybe it appears advantageous for me to want to focus on these issues of poverty, and not as much on these other issues.”

These days, it wouldn’t be a presidential appearance without some gratuitous Christian-bashing. And at [Tuesday’s] roundtable on poverty, President Obama didn’t disappoint. During the panel discussion at Georgetown University, President Obama took the common goal of helping the poor and used it to drive an even deeper wedge between his administration and people of faith.

In between swipes at Fox News, the President scolded the church for being too preoccupied with the culture war to help the needy. “I think it would be powerful for our faith-based organizations to speak out on this in a more forceful fashion. This may sound self-interested because there have been — these are areas where I agree with the evangelical community and faith-based groups, and then there are issues where we have had disagreements around reproductive issues, or same-sex marriage, or what have you. And so maybe it appears advantageous for me to want to focus on these issues of poverty, and not as much on these other issues.”

If only, he sighs, the church weren’t so obsessed with social issues. “There is great caring and great concern, but when it comes to what are you really going to the mat for, what’s the defining issue, when you’re talking in your congregations, what’s the thing that is really going to capture the essence of who we are as Christians, or as Catholics, or what have you, that this is oftentimes viewed as a ‘nice to have’ relative to an issue like abortion.”

Anyone involved in faith-based ministry must have needed a strap to pick their jaws up off the floor. This President is accusing the church — the most effective social outreach program in the history of America — of ignoring the poor to fight a war on social issues that, oh by the way, he started? That’s not only ignorant of the church’s activities — it’s insulting. The religious community hasn’t ignored the poor. On the contrary, there’s no more generous segment of society than Christian conservatives and the ministries that their giving makes possible.

In North American disaster relief alone (not counting hunger and clothing outreach, medical and elder care, treatment programs, prison assistance, and more), the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) spent more than $6,120,000 in 2014 — making it the third largest provider behind the Red Cross and Salvation Army. (And that figure doesn’t include the more than 25,000 volunteer days, worth about $2.5 million!) That’s a tiny sliver of the dozens of SBC’s ministries, and it still dwarfs the $3,187,000 it spends on those “other issues” President Obama mentioned. Not to mention that the SBC is just one of the more than 600 evangelical ministries in America!

“How many Americans, of every faith and every economic status, have received world-class health care in Catholic hospitals?” FRC’s Dr. Pat Fagan and Rob Schwarzwalder ask. “In total, the Economist estimates that of the Catholic Church’s $170 billion total income, about 57%, or roughly $97 billion, goes to ‘health-care networks, followed by 28% on colleges, with parish and diocesan day-to-day operations accounting for just 6%, with the remaining $4.6 billion going to national charitable activities.’”

The irony is that if the President would actually leave these ministries alone to do that work, they’d be even more powerful agents of change. Instead, he attacks their motives, demands their surrender on core values, and punishes them when they refuse. The Obama administration is tying the church’s arms behind its back and then complaining that it doesn’t serve enough soup!

If the President cares more about poverty than his social agenda, why did he sacrifice a program for thousands of sex trafficking victims on the altar of his radical abortion policy? Or make allegiance to same-sex “marriage” a condition of nonprofits’ tax exemption? In the hostile environment created by this administration, Christians are spending precious time defending their faith, when they could be putting it in practice.

Frankly, we’d love to focus on strengthening families and ending poverty — but the President won’t lay down his weapons of sexual radicalism long enough for us to try. So if you’re wondering who’s obsessed with these issues, try 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The church didn’t start this debate. We didn’t introduce transgender bathrooms into elementary schools or force the redefinition of marriage on America. We didn’t decide that killing was “choice.” We’re just responding to the assault on our values. When the President decides to put aside those “other issues,” so will we.

Life-Capable House Passes Pain-Capable Bill

The fewer things America has in common with the evil regimes of North Korea and China, the better. [Wednesday], the House did its best to take the United States out of the company of those brutal human rights violators and give the world one less late-term abortion provider. Thanks to the hard work of Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and others, America is one step closer to ending the suffering of more than 13,000 innocent children a year. With overwhelming support (242-183), the new Republican majority put its stamp on the 114th Congress by passing the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.

On the same day that Kermit Gosnell was convicted for his harrowing legacy of killing babies — born and unborn — the House put its foot down on an abortion business that protects monsters like him. No one knows how many late-term abortions like Gosnell’s are really occurring in the U.S., but they’re more common than people think. Not for long, pro-lifers hope. If the Senate moves to block abortions after the fifth month of pregnancy, when babies feel excruciating pain, the pressure will significantly shift to the President’s party.

In the meantime, we want to thank House leadership, especially Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) for making this bill a priority. For the first time in at least 35 years, as Rep. Smith pointed out on Tuesday’s “Washington Watch,” the Majority Whip “has employed this process of finding out where members stand… which is the next important step. I want to thank FRC for encouraging this… There have been times in the past where our leadership… weren’t really on the same page as the pro-life caucus and we had to do our own whip… so we’ve really made progress.”

That’s a significant development, because it shows that Leadership is willing to spend time encouraging widespread support among members — like it would with other legislation. It provides a more unified front, and makes the statement that votes on values are worth fighting for!

In Survey, a Question of Honesty

If you want the truth about Louisiana’s Marriage and Conscience Act, be careful who you ask. National liberal groups must have overnighted their misinformation machine from Indiana, because the media is trotting out the same tired talking points about State Representative Mike Johnson’s bill. Accuracy must be overrated, because the press and far-Left organizations are getting the facts completely wrong on the measure.

Just [yesterday], local headlines claimed that a majority of residents were opposed to the Marriage and Conscience Act. How they know that, I’m not sure, since they polled on the wrong subject. Instead of asking if businesses and religious groups should be punished by the government for holding natural marriage views, Southern Media & Opinion tried to gin up opposition by asking if people should be able to refuse service to gay people. Of course, most replied no — just as we would!

But unfortunately, this bill has nothing to do with businesses turning away homosexuals and everything to do with protecting men and women of faith from losing their jobs, contracts, tax exemptions, and other government partnerships because of their personal views. Obviously, the Left can’t win on the facts, so it stoops to deceptive tactics to sway voters. If you want to know what the bill says, read it!


This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.

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