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Christians rally against Bush budget

-15/03/05

Members of the National Council of Churches and the Interfaith Alliance in the US have staged a rally on Capitol Hill against President Bush’s proposed budget.

On a day devoted to lobbying members of Congress, participants heard speakers charge that the president’s budget favors military spending and tax breaks for the wealthy while ignoring the needs of the poor.

They chanted in unison, “This budget does not reflect our values.”

The president of the Union for Reform Judaism, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, said people of faith should “take back religion from those who use it for selfish purposes” and “listen to the prophet Isaiah, who exhorts us to share our bread with the hungry.”

The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, Presiding Bishop And Primate of the Episcopal Church, USA is amongst those who have previously suggested that the 2.6 trillion dollar spending plans for 2006, fail to reflect gospel priorities.

Other Christian campaigners in the US have also condemned the budget proposals as standing ‘in opposition to biblical values’.

As feared by demonstrators at the President’s inauguration the budget includes increases in military spending while at the same time proposing major cuts to domestic programs that benefit people living in poverty, both in the US and abroad.

The presiding Bishop of the Episcopal church in the US warned several months ago that the budget was a ‘moral document’.

Griswold had said; “In the life of our nation, one of the most concrete expressions of our shared moral values and priorities is the federal budget.”

He proposed three criteria for “examining whether a budget properly reflects America’s values”; whether the budget was ‘compassionate’, whether it served the ‘human family’, both at home and around the world, and whether it served the ‘common good’.

“While there are some areas in President Bush’s budget that give me hope” he said, “I am deeply disheartened by others.”

“In particular, I am concerned that this budget neglects and exacerbates our nation’s healthcare crisis, especially for children and seniors, and fails to honour the commitments our nation has made to combating poverty and disease overseas. Such a budget is not a reflection of the compassionate values of our nation, nor of the Gospel’s command to care for the least among us.”

The Bishop pointed out that forty-five million Americans lack access to quality and affordable health care, an increase of five million over the past three years.

“This budget exacerbates the problem by recommending deep cuts in Medicaid” the bishop said, “of which the most bruising impact of these cuts will fall upon the neediest in our midst: the poor, children, senior citizens, and the disabled and states will be hard-pressed to make up the difference.

“If our federal budget is to reflect the values of the American people, it must better care for the neediest among us.”

The bishop also said that the budget proposals affecting help for developing countries fell short of the commitments the President had previously made.

For the second time in two years, the primate of the Episcopal Church in the USA said, there were significant cuts to the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and funds the MCA at just 60 percent of its promised level.

“These figures are particularly problematic when viewed alongside the budget’s other cuts in foreign-aid programs.” said the bishop.

“As the President has observed in the past, our nation’s efforts to combat poverty and disease abroad are not just a matter of humanitarian obligation, but a necessity in building a more secure and stable world.”

However, the bishop did praise the provision of 150 million US dollars in aid “to the Palestinian people.”

“It is my sincere prayer that this is a signal that the United States has re-committed itself to helping to lead a political process to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At this unique moment of opportunity, the vision of a two-state solution is coming back into focus, giving me hope that Palestinians and Israelis may both soon live in freedom and security” the bishop concluded.