Entitlement Programs: Welfare vs. The Church
The idea that government sponsored welfare programs are the responsibility of the American taxpayer might be a newer idea then you think. It is, and has always been prior to The Great Depression, the job of the church to care for the needy.
Government welfare programs as they are currently in place, even those providing temporary relief, are in complete opposition to the fundamental tenets of the church. Giving charity is based on the concept of free will, which when forcefully taken by taxes negates that idea.
A government, by its nature, can only act by means of force. The first act of a government is a legislative one — the passing of laws — followed by the carrying out of these rules of social behavior by the executive and judicial branches. The government possesses a legal monopoly in the use of force in executing its duty of seeing that citizens obey the law, and in punishing them if they do not. Thus, the essence of government is coercion. Coercion is NOT charity!
As government welfare activity continues to expand at a phenomenal rate of speed, greater sums of money are required to support this "charity-by-force" undertaking. Taxation thus remains at a high level, with more of the tax dollars diverted to welfare programs, leaving little money in private circulation which can be used for charity.
You may wonder why the church was ever given the exuberant task of caring for all those in need. Remember though that people prior to The Great Depression had different values, morals, and work ethics. Granted the “system” was hardly as overwhelmed as our government is today. This taken into consideration the church was also relieved of taxes in the spirit that the church would be there for the needy.
The disastrous consequences of legalized welfare are the demeaning of the human spirit, the creation of parasitical degeneration, as well as the enslavement of the productive members of society who are required, by law, to provide support for welfare recipients.
It is not only the right, but the duty, of every church to actively seek the demise of all government welfare programs, for they are in total conflict with the doctrine which recognizes man as a being possessing free will — the fundamental premise upon which morality is based.
More importantly it is up to the church itself to create programs for those in need not as an addition to government programs as a replacement of them. Only when the church steps up voluntarily or by order of the government will we get this nation’s spending under control.
