Religion
Related: About this forumReligious Leaders Slam Ryan For Using Catholic Faith To Justify Cutting Programs That Help The Poor
By Travis Waldron on Apr 12, 2012 at 11:45 am
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) told Christian Broadcast Network earlier this week that the House GOPs budget, which he wrote, was driven by his Catholic faith. A persons faith is central to how they conduct themselves in public and in private, Ryan said, and Catholic principles are what led him to cut programs for the poor so as to keep people from becoming dependent on government.
As ThinkProgress noted Tuesday, Ryans budget seems to ignore Catholic social teaching that calls for protecting the poor and improving access to food, jobs, health care, housing, and the social safety net. And now religious leaders are making the same case. The founder of the PICO National Network, the largest national coalition of religious congregations, slammed Ryans claim of adherence to Catholic teaching as the height of hypocrisy in a release circulated Wednesday:
Its the height of hypocrisy for Rep. Ryan to claim that his approach to the budget is shaped by Catholic teaching and values, said Fr. John Baumann, S.J., founder of PICO National Network. [...] A central moral measure of any budget proposal is how it affects the least of these (Matthew 25). The needs of those who are hungry and homeless, without work or in poverty should come first.
By these measures, the release says, the Ryan budget is a severe failure, noting that it cuts Medicare, Medicaid, Pell Grants, food stamps, and other programs that help vulnerable working families make it through tough times and live better lives, while giving massive tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and corporations. Overall, 62 percent of Ryans budget cuts come from programs that benefit the poor. The mission of the Church is to bring good news to the poor and to protect the vulnerable, not to justify the impoverishment of the very young, the very old and the sick in order to enrich the wealthy, the release says.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/04/12/463211/catholic-leaders-ryan-budget/?mobile=nc
More about PICO:
http://www.piconetwork.org/about
russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)it's been a long time since i entered their castles, but if i remember correctly, they appeared to spend more on design then they did on helping those most in need.
rug
(82,333 posts)trotsky
(49,533 posts)when they deliberately exclude a sizable portion of the population?
In PICO's congregation-community model, congregations of all denominations and faiths serve as the institutional base for community organizations. Rather than bring people together simply based on common issues like housing or education, the faith-based or broad-based organizing model makes values and relationships the glue that holds organizations together.
Atheists and other people who don't belong to a religious congregation need not apply, apparently. How very welcoming!
rug
(82,333 posts)Which would be quite odd considering that the only base definition of an atheist is one who does not believe in a god.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)"congregations of all denominations and faiths serve as the institutional base for community organizations"
rug
(82,333 posts)"the faith-based or broad-based organizing model makes values and relationships the glue that holds organizations together."
trotsky
(49,533 posts)While you are asking them about their organizational affiliations, don't forget to ask them about their values.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)Reading the PICO information, it does not appear to be welcoming to anyone who isn't a regular churchgoer of some kind.
It's fine they are doing good work, but I feel it is DISINGENUOUS of them to pretend to be a true community organization when they are restricting off the bat who is welcome to participate.
rug
(82,333 posts)And contact information.
Find your location and contact them.
Post here if they reject you.
Assuming you are not disingenuous.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)regarding your "corrections" of their information, I'll contact PICO.
Deal?
On edit: the only participant in my state says on their website:
"...for congregations, clergy, and people of faith to act collectively and powerfully towards racial and economic equity"
Yep, I'm sure I'm welcome.
rug
(82,333 posts)pnwmom
(108,995 posts)they both employ non-Catholics and welcome volunteers who, like Obama, are not Catholic.
Call them up and volunteer, if you want. Don't pretend you aren't welcome when you haven't even tried.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)Sorry, as an atheist I forgot I am supposed to shut up and defer to the religious.
pnwmom
(108,995 posts)that some Congregations served as the "institutional base" for these organizations -- meaning, they founded them. That doesn't mean they exclude non-religious people, either as paid-employees, volunteer employees, or recipients of services.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)You aren't being excluded.
pnwmom
(108,995 posts)and clients that are equally diverse.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)You've attempted to change the subject.
Good day!
pnwmom
(108,995 posts)However, there are organizations of atheists. They're free to found community service organizations based on their beliefs -- or lack thereof. Maybe they already have. Can you point to any?
trotsky
(49,533 posts)non-chess-players?
By non-jeans-wearers?
Let me know when you do and then you'll have scored an incredible rhetorical point! Until then, your request is meaningless.
pnwmom
(108,995 posts)of religious organizations that offer community services.
Atheists are free to establish their own organizations to do so, if they are so inclined.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)I made no requests about leadership, I merely wanted to point out the language of exclusion - that PICO expressly states they organize via church congregations, which excludes atheists (and anyone else who doesn't belong to a church).
And my request to you stands. When you provide me an organization established by non-stamp-collectors, I will respond to you. Hopefully you are able to make the connection here.
Thanks and have a great day.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Which won't be tax exempt....
pnwmom
(108,995 posts)whether or not they have a religious connection.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)The progressive and liberal wings of the church have had a hard time digging out from underneath the incredibly loud voices of the religious right, but they are doing it nonetheless.
mr blur
(7,753 posts)What they appear to have done here is criticise Ryan for using his faith to "justify the impoverishment of the very young, the very old and the sick in order to enrich the wealthy.
Kudos to them.
pnwmom
(108,995 posts)There are thousands of them, all over the country.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)I would like to see Christian (with a big "C" organizations demand that Ryan square his clearly christian (with a small "C" faith with his admiration of ayn rand "philosophy."
The two are impossibly inreconcilable.
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)ryan is not capable of understanding that point.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Jesus' mouth condemned that world.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Baloney.
She was an atheist. She was uber-selfish.
That is not the world Jesus was born into. He was born into a world full of superstitions, and that's what he continued to preach. All of Jesus' notions... including turning the other cheek, can be found elsewhere. His cult became useful to the Roman Empire, and thus we have it today.
It's kinda like Luther. Lots of folks decried the state of the Catholic church before Luther... they just got burned at the stake. But Luther came along at a time that was convenient for German leaders.
Religion is just ancient government.
LeftishBrit
(41,212 posts)The only thing worse than a person who tramples on poor and vulnerable people out of straightforward selfishness and indifference, is one who uses religious or moral arguments that trampling on poor and vulnerable people is really Good for Them.
mr blur
(7,753 posts)madrchsod
(58,162 posts)mo
jwirr
(39,215 posts)trotsky
(49,533 posts)Like fighting for women's reproductive rights.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)I have to admit they do seem to care about the poor.