On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 21:59:18 +0100, William T Goodall wrote > It's a symptom of how infested and rotten with religion America is > that Americans think charities controlled by partisan and > unaccountable religious organisations are preferable to a proper > social welfare system.
The current administration talks that way (government can feed the body, but only the churches can reach the soul, as Bush said, in the context, sadly, of helping the needy), but I'm quite sure that the majority of us don't believe that hunger and poverty are moral issues that only churches can address successfully. To insist, as our president does, that real, physical needs such as food and shelter *belong* to churches is a terrible insult to the people in need, since it implies that they are in their situation due to their own moral failure. I believe, and so do the majority of religious in this country, that a big part of the reason we invented government is to create just that sort of social safety net. But I gotta admit that the talk out of the leadership in Washington sure wouldn't lead one to believe that the majority agrees with me. But that's political, not religious evil. Nick -- Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Voicemail: 408-904-7198 _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
